Black Tears
by MrDrProfessor4
Summary: Sequel to 'Assassin'. Now firm in her resolve to help rescue Moka, the Black Devil must face her past actions and ambitions.
1. Chpt 1: Rough Start

**Between all the time that's past, the new manga chapters, and the requests I've gotten to continue this story, I'm not sure where to start. Over the last six months it's been, I've felt motivated to return to writing time and again. Sure it can be a chore, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. There were however a few major obstacles for continuing this.**

**1. I started 'Assassin' in the first place because I had lost a bet. The focus of the story, that being to add Akuha into the harem, was _meant_ to be akin to an intentional 'troll fic', but then I would try to execute this crazy idea seriously, like as a challenge to figure out 'how this impossible scenario would fit together'. Oddly enough, things worked out fairly well and the fic got a lot of positive feedback. Still, continuing the story would mean facing a number of plot-holes I previously hoped I would never have to answer.**

**2. Worse than the first problem is how attitudes toward Akuha have changed. I started 'Assassin' back when Akuha was still widely 'liked' by fans. Yeah she was a brutal character, but she was also shown to have a conscious and she cared about her sisters. However, in the manga chapters released while I've been gone, she's committed some pretty horrendous acts, creating a very formidable hate-base against her that wasn't there before. In complete contrast to the manga, my fic's version of her is far less insensitive. I wouldn't say she's _too_ 'out-of-character' though. It's more a case of the same character being put into very different circumstances and having made very different decisions before; decisions she had even greatly considered (not attacking Akasha). Without an obsession to deteriorate her mental state for seven years, she's grown to be much more sane and rational, but on the other hand, this is such a wide difference from canon that it may as well be considered 'out-of-character' anyways. The manga's Akuha has now practically been defined by how selfish and insecure she's become, and I'll admit, it makes for a good villain. Still, this is an alternate-universe _fan_fiction, and it's supposed to be a bit different from canon.**

**One other thing I feel I must mention. The topic came up in one of 'Assassin's' _many_ author-notes sections, how the Black Devil's name is spelt; Akuha, Akua, Aqua, whatever. Fans still haven't really settled on which one it is, though 'Akuha' seems to be the least popular of the three. After dwelling on this _dumb_ issue for a while, I decided I'm just going to stick with what I've been using since day one. We all know who's being mentioned anyways.**

**A lot of content has been cut from the final version. Kokoa and seven OCs have been dropped, as well as more than half the Kahlua scenes. The original plan for the story was just too overwhelming for me to write by myself anyways.**

_Remember_**: This i****s a hobby, you're not paying money for this, and if you don't like it you don't have to read it. Enjoy… or don't. That's up to you.**

* * *

Akuha drew in the damp, cold air of the tomb-like underground. With every breath she could feel… smell… _taste_ the people Alucard had eaten. Too many to count… too many to imagine. 20-foot-long blades lined the lipless mouth of the colossal abomination. The throat, the bloodshot tentacles, the skin masked beneath its countless shriveled spider legs; they all bore countless smaller mouths, some opened, some closed. Each one held thousands of jagged teeth that had chewed the traitors Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Its presence was overwhelming, yet it was dead. It knew she was there, watching her without eyes, laughing at her with its severed tongue… the disgusting face beneath the beautiful vampire.

"Akuha." A voice echoed from the empty blackness.

Always looking down at the world and holding themselves higher; believing they were infallible and never admitting error; refusing to accept reality when they felt entitled to more; being possessed of the need to feel proud of themselves. They bore no trait more destructive, more disparaging than the belief that they were perfect.

Pride, the original and most vile of the seven deadly sins, ultimately the creator and cause of all the others. Pride had made their race into its plaything. It was arrogance, and ultimately pride that brought Lucifer's fall from grace, changing the archangel into a hideous beast, frozen mid-breast in the center of Hell. Were he as fair once as he now is foul, lifting his brow against his maker.

"You haven't changed…" said a hideous voice.

Akuha turned and found a robbed figure staring at her. She recognized his white, oval mask and the blood-like sludge that oozed from the five eye sockets and frozen smile.

"No matter how much you'd wish you could."

Akuha glared at him as if in a standoff.

The masked figure came closer, dangling a blackened necklace from the tips of his fingers. "I thought I'd hold onto this," he said impassively, "because I _know_ how much you _need it_."

Akuha felt herself slowly reach for the piece of onyx. How strongly she still wished to return to the old, to take back what the necklace once meant to her, and to take the Shinso's power by any means necessary. She would become like the incomprehensible monster buried in this glacial crypt, just as she told Moka she would.

"What a fitting place for a traitor," the mask hissed, "to be locked away with Dis himself."

Akuha felt an immense pain as her arms and legs ripped open, her purity of form being discarded for the power she desired. Her body mutated, coming apart and back together to resemble her grandfather. Massive blades replaced her fangs and countless rows of teeth grew all over her body. She felt herself being frozen up to the waist.

"Ah…" A rush of maroon sludge leaked from the Masked King's bloodshot, swelling eyes. "What a beautiful sight you've become."

XXX

**Grassy Plain – Tent**

"_Gah_!" Akuha awoke to feel her own teeth driven into her right arm. She had been gnawing on it shortly before awaking. She pulled her bloodied arm from her mouth and let a moment pass to collect herself. "Holy hell that dream was _weird_…" She looked around the small tent for the digital clock she had brought. It was 6:31 AM, just twenty-nine minutes before the time she had set the ringer for. She grabbed one of the dozens of first-aid kits next to her sleeping bag and pulled out a bandage roller.

XXX

At exactly 7 AM, Tsukune climbed out of his tent dressed in a tracksuit. Aside from his and Akuha's tents in the far corner of the field, this place was mostly open and barren, surrounded with a forest of leafless trees.

Akuha was already awake and waiting, sitting on a lone stool-sized boulder at the other side of the field, wearing her usual black combat outfit.

Only yesterday night, Tsukune had asked Akuha to train him, to give him the strength and teach him the skills he needed to rescue Moka. Given their tight schedule and fresh start, they had to start right away. He walked over the grass towards his instructor, brooding over what severe and unimaginable training he may have to go through. "No, Moka needs me," he tried to push himself, "I have to give this my all."

Akuha had her arms crossed, keeping a stern look as Tsukune came up to her. "I hope you know what you're in for, Tsuk." She brushed her hair, revealing bandages on her arm ending halfway up her finger. "I don't plan on going easy on you."

"What happened to your arm, Akuha?"

"Worry about your own health." Akuha said softly, "Did you get plenty of rest?"

"Well, not really." Tsukune looked in the direction of the academy. "The dorms aren't that far away, why can't I just sleep there?" He pointed his index finger up in enthusiasm. "Getting here from there would even be a good warm-up each morning!"

Akuha hazily shrugged. "If we're to get results from a single week of training, you'll need to be here full time; no distractions. Back when I first started, I literally had to move _into_ the dojo I attended."

"What about food? You're not going to starve me as part of your training too?"

Akuha grinned. "Na, of course not." she said laughing, "I've instructed Kurumu to bring over a meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. They'll be fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, and proper amounts of meat. A good diet always helps."

Tsukune sighed in relief. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "No sweets I take it?"

"Fruits are sweet enough." Akuha stood up. "In a nutshell, any time you're not eating or sleeping, you'll be training. Nothing else, no breaks, nadda."

"I didn't expect any less." Tsukune rubbed his hands together eagerly, "So, after we're done with breakfast, what awesome techniques are you going to teach me first?"

XXX

**Strength**

"_How does this teach me martial arts_?" Tsukune bellowed in agony.

Akuha sat on the grass with her back against the rock, closely reading a book she had brought with her. "We have to bulk you up first."

Tsukune stood there with massive boulders roped to his arms, legs, and back. His limbs were already shaking like jelly just trying to hold them. "But why can't we mix it up a little? Like going back-and-forth between techniques and all this weight lifting?"

Akuha turned a page of her book. "If your build were to drastically change, you'd practically have to relearn everything all over again. These techniques wouldn't be much good to you as you are anyways."

Tsukune's limbs rattled. "Did you do anything like this when you started Kung Fu?" he squeaked.

"I sharpened my senses, exercised, and stretched for six months straight before I was taught anything." Akuha said, still staring at her book. "We're short on time though, so your training will have to be much more extreme."

Tsukune moaned loudly. "Aren't I already strong enough with my ghoul powers?"

"No."

"But my strength is roughly equal to Inner Moka's."

Akuha sighed. "Okay, I'll explain…" She closed her book and looked over at Tsukune. "A vampire's blood can convert demonic energy into raw strength, but a better muscle structure allows you to use a lot more of it, and more efficiently. You've been on par with Moka in terms of sheer strength only because men naturally have more muscle mass than women. Just imagine the strength you could muster with the physique of an athlete."

"I think I get it." Tsukune's arms started to falter.

"Even so, you never want to enter a fight with a body that's out of shape." Akuha opened her book and went back to reading. "Even with all the martial arts knowledge in the world, you wouldn't last. I sure didn't back when I was stuck in Yukari's body. I kept getting tired and was too stiff for half the attacks I tried."

"How much longer do I need to keep this up?"

"Just ten more minutes." Akuha blinked and turned the page.

"Arrrrrgggghhhhhh… my limbs are gonna pop off!"

"I've heard lots of people say that, but it doesn't happen much."

"Much? You mean it at least _has_ happened before?"

"Uh…" Akuha glanced at Tsukune nervously. "Is this a good time to tell you that only nine of the fifty-five disciples at the dojo graduated?"

"Yikes, you mean they all dropped out?"

"No, they uh…" Akuha made a grim look, "… sort of died."

"What!" Tsukune fell face-first into the ground with a massive boulder on his back.

"Tsukune!"

XXX

**Flexibility**

Tsukune slowly stood up. He squatted up and down to check for injury. "You'd make a good doctor or nurse." He was completely fixed up; not a single bone was out of place.

Akuha stood a few feet away with a soccer ball under her arm. "I studied orthopedics under a couple of doctors. There's a lot of broken bones in my profession."

Tsukune shook his head. Did Akuha know anything that _wasn't_ somehow related to assassinating people?

Akuha chucked the soccer ball up and down. "This next exercise will focus on flexibility, afterwards we'll move onto perception."

"And what comes after that?" Tsukune asked.

"We'll start over and cycle through these three categories for the rest of the day, and over the next four days. I'll start showing you some techniques on our last two before the week is up."

"Why a week?"

"Because I know where Moka will be _within_ a week."

Tsukune just looked at her.

"You can worry about that later. For now…" Akuha spun the soccer ball on the tip of her finger. "Focus on taking this from me." It didn't sound like she was joking.

Tsukune studied the soccer ball. It seemed ordinary, but how could a game of keep-away improve his flexibility? "Whatever. You're the teacher." He ran at Akuha, only to seemingly fly through her and fumble into the grass. "Huh?" He got up and charged her again, but she seemed completely intangible. "Hey, you're using the Jigen-Tou, aren't you?"

"Nope." Akuha said an inch behind him, "It's just a simple stepping maneuver."

Tsukune tried yet again, paying close attention to his instructor. "Stepping…" As his hand nearly reached the soccer ball, Akuha placed her right foot forward, pivoting her left foot to the right. Her upper body remained motionless as she stepped around Tsukune, forming the illusion that she were still standing there. Her upper body finally moved at the last moment. "Woah," Tsukune stopped where he was, "that's a neat trick."

"I'll teach you it when you're ready." Akuha held the ball forward. "But first things first."

Tsukune sighed. Hopefully this would make sense to him soon.

XXX

Over the next thirty minutes, the only thing Tsukune had been doing was aimlessly chasing Akuha all over the field. She frequently told him to keep trying as long as he still had the energy to, but this unusual 'test' of hers, or what Tsukune assumed to be one, was utterly impossible.

"I can't do this!" Tsukune panted as he pursued. He was dripping with sweat. "Isn't there a better way to 'make me stronger'?"

"Running faster!"

Tsukune groaned loudly.

Akuha hopped backwards while still facing him. "Look, I'm not a Dark Lord with magic spells that instantly make you stronger. We're doing things the old fashion way. You won't have anything to show if you don't push yourself."

Tsukune suddenly collapsed facedown in exhaustion.

"Tsuk?" Akuha tossed the soccer ball aside and knelt down next to him. "Too tired to stand?"

"Ye… yeah." Tsukune panted wildly. "I give up, I can't catch you. I doubt I could if I tried for the rest of my life!"

"It was _meant_ to be impossible, Tsuk." Akuha put Tsukune's arm over her shoulder and helped him up. "Sorry, but you wouldn't have pushed yourself if you knew this was only to wear you out."

"Just to make me tired?" Tsukune sounded disappointed. "Couldn't that have been done just by running laps around the school or this field?"

Akuha began to walk him towards the tents. "It could, but it's better to avoid running around on autopilot. You need to be thinking about every movement your body makes. Being focused on a goal or objective can help." She set Tsukune down.

Tsukune knelt on the grass as Akuha searched through her tent. "I get that now," Tsukune said, "but what does cardiovascular endurance have to do with flexibility?"

"Questions, questions…" Akuha pulled out two steel javelins from the tent and made her way back to Tsukune. "I'll just say this…" She stabbed both javelins more than halfway into the ground. "Muscles stretch far better, and are less likely to rip, when they're warm."

Tsukune took note of distance between each pole and gulped. Something told him this was gonna hurt. Akuha picked him up and moved him towards the poles. "_Yoooooooooouch!_" he shrieked, being pushed into a perfect 180 degree split. His ankles pressed against each poll. "Arrrrrrgghh!"

Akuha pressed her back against Tsukune's. "You think this is bad? You don't even want to know what I had to go through."

Kurumu and Mizore stepped into the field with picnic baskets under their arms. They came to a halt, speechless at what they were watching. "Ugh…" the Yuki-onna began to murmur, "it looks more like she's torturing him rather than training him."

"No pain no gain right?" Kurumu said, unsure of herself, "Akuha better not kill him before this is over…" she murmured maliciously.

XXX

**Lunch Time**

The four of them each sat on a picnic blanket, enjoying the home-cooked meal Kurumu had made for them. 'Great' didn't even begin to describe her cooking. Each of the girls made laid-back small talk as they ate. Tsukune however was too drained for chatter, instead devouring all the nutritious food he could see.

"Uhm," Kurumu began, "what do you mean when you keep mentioning 'framework'?"

"Think of it like this." Akuha swallowed the salmon she was chewing. "Let's say you wanted to build a house, shed, mansion… whatever. Before you add in the walls, carpeting, or furniture, you need to build the framework for the house first, and a larger home requires larger framework, right?"

Mizore nodded. "So you're increasing Tsukune's potential as a fighter before teaching him to become a fighter."

"It's what I had to suffer through back in the day." Akuha began to dig into some fried rice. "Strength and flexibility are mandatory when learning martial arts."

"Well, we can see by the way you fight that it got results." Kurumu helped herself to some fruits. Akuha had forbidden any cookies or sweets, so it was the sweetest food she could have in these fields. "Tsukune?" She noticed how viciously Tsukune ate. "Don't eat so fast, you're gonna choke."

Tsukune chewed through a chicken leg, not like an animal, but just very quickly. "I can't help it. I've never been this hungry in my life!"

"You'll need the energy." Akuha told him, "Just chew your food. Your training will continue _regardless_ if you have a stomach ache."

"Isn't it unhealthy to run around right after a meal?" Kurumu asked, "He'd throw up if he exercised after eating so much."

"That's why the next session will focus on perception, a workout for the mind and senses." Akuha glanced at her student without moving her head. "His physically body won't have to move _too_ much, so it's the closest thing he'll have to a 'break'."

"What are you planning for him after that?"

"We'll go between strength and flexibility exercises for the next five hours, have dinner, work on perception again, and then repeat the former until ten o'clock."

Kurumu stared without a word. "Tsukune," she began, "are you sure you want to put yourself through all of this?"

Tsukune stopped eating for a moment. "Of course I am." His shoulders sunk. "These new enemies are _far_ stronger than anything we've faced before. Kuyou, Hokuto, Alistair… those guys were choir boys compared to those Minotaur things we saw yesterday." He made a dreadful look at the clouds above them. "I don't really have a choice."

Akuha could tell Moka was on his mind. He would do _anything_ for her, anything for her sealed side anyways. Kurumu lightly tapped Akuha's shoulder. "Hmm?"

"Listen," Kurumu whispered, "it's Tsukune's decision if he wants to become stronger, but if anything happens to him-"

"Relax," Akuha whispered back, "I'll try not to cripple him for life." The fate of those she trained with came to mind. "Or killed…" she muttered to herself.

XXX

**Perception**

Tsukune inspected the blindfold in his hand. The illustration of a Chinese dragon among the clouds ran across the blue, smooth silk. It was a fine piece of work.

"Call me old fashion," Akuha said behind him, "but I've kept that blindfold as a souvenir ever since I left the dojo."

"It's a bit fancy for something we're gonna use for training."

"Yeah, it's an antique too, but it's protected by enchantments so it doesn't rip or tear easily." Akuha sounding like she was lifting something heavy as she spoke. "Putting it on will disable both sight _and_ hearing."

Tsukune nodded. "Seems useful for practicing energy detection."

"We're going to start small though, so don't put it on just yet." Later, balancing a bucket of water on the head would be involved.

Tsukune pocketed the blindfold as Akuha dumped a massive pile of rocks onto the ground. "Uhm… what are those for?"

Akuha tossed a rock up and caught it. "It's nothing complicated. I'm just gonna throw these at you from every direction, and you'll have to hit them out of the air with your eyes closed."

"Ah…" It didn't sound quite as bad as the last exercise. "Okay then."

Kurumu ran up to them. "Hold it! Hold it!" She came to the foot of the rock pile. "Akuha, this is dangerous!"

Akuha shrugged. "It's better than throwing knives and arrows."

Kurumu inspected some of the rocks. Some of them looked a bit sharp. "You said you weren't gonna kill him."

"Rocks won't kill someone with ghoul powers. Besides, all of the school's sports equipment was lost in the fire, save for one soccer ball. What else would we use?"

Kurumu pondered for a moment. "I'll be right back!" She turned and began to run towards the school. "Just don't start until I get back, 'oh guru of martial arts'!"

XXX

While his eyes were closed, Tsukune punched and chopped snowballs out of the air as Akuha threw them.

"You're getting this one down fast." Akuha zoomed around Tsukune in circles, instantly stopping to throw another snowball and then moving again. "Remember, a vampire's sense of energy is no less important than his strength, speed, or healing factor. Personally I think it's our _most_ important ability, even if it's always overlooked." She changed directions, threw the snowballs at random, and occasionally made a throwing motion without letting go of one. "Know that we can sense more than just an opponent's energy, but their killing-intent as well. You can read their thoughts and foresee their next move, making it easier to counter…" she stopped for a moment and shrugged, "uh… their next move."

"Moka may have mentioned a thing or two about that." Tsukune said, slapping a few more snowballs with his eyes closed. "She said it's why her battles often end in less than a minute; always three steps ahead of 'em."

"It's why no one should fight _any_ vampire head-on. Unless of course you are one yourself."

"Yeah," Kurumu murmured, "me and Mizore had to learn that the hard way." Mizore squatted down with both knees to her chest, holding a water hose and freezing the water as it came out, creating a mound of snow in front of her. Kurumu steadily scraped snow from the pile with her gloved hands and molded snowball after snowball for Akuha to use. This was the first, and likely the only exercise Tsukune initially did well at. In fact it seemed almost fun.

"Alistair's detection ability was so enhanced that he could literally download knowledge from others. Not having eyes wouldn't matter to someone like that." Akuha came to a stop. "Hmm… Alistair." She thought for a moment. "That reminds me, I got something to take care of tomorrow."

"I thought we'd be training be training all day every day."

"It'll be for the duration of your lunch break." Akuha tossed another snowball, hitting Tsukune's wrist at an angle and ricocheting right into Kurumu's face, knocking her down.

"Sorry!" Tsukune and Akuha said at once.

XXX

**The Headmaster's Office**

The door creaked open as Ruby slowly entered. While the rest of the building was burnt and charred, only this room was completely untouched. It was up to debate whether the room was protected by magic or if the headmaster had cast a few restoration spells.

"I see you're feeling a little better, Ruby." The Headmaster said, seated at his desk in the shadows. A pair of glowing eyes was all one could see under his hood.

"The doctor said I'd make a full recovery." Ruby lightly touched the wound on her torso. Bandages covered it beneath her handmade dress. "Eventually…" She struggled to keep herself standing, using her magic wand as a cane.

"Sit." The Headmaster lifted his palm towards a chair before his desk.

Ruby bowed and took a seat. "I was wondering some things about the attack on Frelijord." Ruby tried to be as unprovoking as possible. "You know, the city you were at when the school was on fire."

"Did Akuha put you up to this?"

"Yeah…" Ruby had gotten used to how all-knowing Mikogami was. "She's going to be busy for a while, so she can't really ask you herself. Not to mention I'm a bit curious too."

"Very well." The Headmaster placed his elbows on the table and clasped his hands. "What is it you wish to know?"

"You mentioned something earlier about some artifacts being stolen."

"You wish to know what they were." The Headmaster slowly grabbed an exquisite vial from the corner of his desk. It was wrapped in solid gold just below the rim, barring an emerald with two golden wings sprouting from each side of it. What appeared to be water was all that was inside.

"What is that?" Ruby suddenly felt an overpowering blast of magical energy the moment Mikogami pulled the cork off. Visually the 'water' remained the same, but the discharge of energy it gave was unlike anything she'd ever felt. "_Holy_! _What is that_?"

"Long ago, Orion the hunter was mistakenly killed by his love, Artemis. Stricken with grief over her love's death, she carried Orion's body high into the sky on her silver moon chariot. She left him in the darkest place in the heavens where he would shine the brightest." The Headmaster raised his arm, careful not to spill the vial. "These are the very tears that Artemis had shed. It's what I used to heal Akuha so quickly when I returned."

Ruby's eyes widened. "The tears of a god?" She couldn't believe what she was looking at. "Even a god's piss has unrivaled magical properties!"

"No doubt you're aware that the Greek gods were wiped out centuries ago." The Headmaster stuck the cork back into the vial and closed it. "However, much of what they left behind still remains. Tears they shed, jewelry they wore, dinner plates they ate off of…" He smiled under his hood. "Their_ weapons _and_ armor_. These relics have since been scattered throughout the world."

"You don't mean to tell me that Fairy Tale has…"

"The purpose of the siege was to draw attention from a covert raid on the city's underground vaults." Mikogami's expression darkened. "These vaults contained god relics that the city's government had horded and stashed away."

"How many were there? What did they take?"

"Among the seven relics, I managed to recover all but one." Mikogami set the vial back onto his desk. "Five have been returned to the Frelijord vaults, one is right here on this desk, but the one Fairy Tale took…" He lowered his head in despair. "It was a gauntlet made for Aries himself, the god of war."

"I never read anything about him having a special glove or gauntlet."

"He died shortly after its creation, he never wore it, but its power cannot be denied."

"Do you know what it does?"

"The only person to ever try it on died because he was deemed 'unworthy'. It has merely been said that it would grant great power." For the first time Ruby had ever seen, Mikogami seemed uneasy. "However, each of these artifacts radiates vast amounts of energy. Not even one of the other artifacts gave off half the amount that the gauntlet did."

XXX

**Grassy Plain – Night**

Though Tsukune mildly enjoyed the brief perception sessions, all the rest of the time he had to endure the most vicious, agonizing, unbearable exercises he could ever… still couldn't imagine. Most of them didn't make any sense to him, and it felt more like Akuha was torturing him rather than making him stronger.

After 14 hours of this hell, Tsukune finally collapsed onto his sleeping bag. He had never felt so tired in his life, and was probably going to lose consciousness before he fell asleep. His body didn't exactly feel sore; he couldn't feel his body. "One day… that's one day down and a whole week to go."

"Get plenty of shut-eye, Tsuk." Akuha said from her tent nearby, "We're waking up extra early tomorrow, and we're getting right to work."

Tsukune let out a loud, lengthy moan.

"Hey, believe it or not I had it far worse, and I was only six years old at the time."

Tsukune didn't make any reply. He was already either asleep or out cold.

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**The image serving as the 'book cover' will often change in relevance to the most recent chapter.**


	2. Chpt 2: Mafia Girl

**Some Unimportant Place**

"Not so fast, Professor Squid!" Arachnoman yelled. He stood up high with his fists against his hips and his elbows spread out.

"Arachnoman!" Professor Squid raised the six robotic arms attached to his egg-shaped head. "You have been a thorn in my side for long enough!"

Arachnoman leapt at his nemesis with his fists raised. "Well this thorn is gonna take you _down_!"

Griggs watched the television show eagerly as the hero and villain clashed.

Sheckley finished up his can of beer and tossed it onto the carpet. "Griggs, can you change the channel?"

"I want to watch this fight first." Griggs said, taking another bite of his big-mac.

"Arachnoman is the good guy and Professor Squid is the bad guy. That's all you need to know." Sheckley explained blandly, "Good guys always win in kid-shows."

"That doesn't mean it can't be entertaining." A knock was heard at the door. "I'll get it!" He sprung up and moved towards the door.

Sheckley bitterly looked at where his legs were cut off months ago. "Not like I could anyways…" He eyed the TV remote on Griggs' side of the couch and grabbed it.

Griggs opened the door. "Hellllloooooo, who is- _**AHH!**_" He shut the door in Akuha's face immediately.

Akuha just blankly stared at the door before calmly knocking on it again.

"Please, go away! If Moka's been kidnapped again, it wasn't us!"

"Calm down. I just want to talk."

"No way, chika. This door is staying shut!"

"Do you honestly think a wooden door will keep me out?"

Griggs remained silent for a moment. "Alright, alright." He opened the door for her. "Look, we haven't done anything bad since you beat us up. We don't want any trouble."

"That all depends on you." Akuha came in through the door. She noticed that Griggs was significantly bigger and less muscular. "Uh… it looks like you've put on a few pounds." Griggs shut the door and walked further into the house. Akuha followed him.

"Hey Griggs," Sheckley yelled from the TV room, "was that a girl at the door?"

Griggs came up behind the couch. "Uhm…" he murmured nervously, "as a matter of fact, it was." Akuha came in the doorway behind him.

Sheckley changed the channel once more and turned his head. "Wha!" He made a low gasp. "Black D? What do you want with us?"

"I just need answers."

"Answers? After you killed our boss, we haven't done a thing but watch TV and eat junk food. What kind of answers could we give you?"

"It's about Alistair."

Sheckley's nervous look faded to a gloomy one. "Oh… Al."

"You two are the only associates he had. Who else could I ask about him?"

"How about Gyokuro Shuzen?"

Akuha flinched. "Excuse me?"

The intro for Fib-busters began on the television. "Let's take this to the dining room." Sheckley struggled to get into the wheelchair next to him.

XXX

Griggs pushed Sheckley's wheelchair up to the kitchen table. Akuha got herself seated at the other side. This place smelt like a McDonalds. Rappers, chip bags, and empty beer cans lay everywhere.

"Erm…" Griggs still seemed uneasy with Akuha nearby. "I'm gonna finish my big-mac in the TV room." He walked off quickly. "I still got an appetite."

"Griggs," Sheckley said over his shoulder, "you're gonna keep that appetite until ten minutes _after_ you die." He rolled his eyes and looked across the table.

Akuha cleared her throat. "You said Gyokuro knew Alistair. Did the three of you once work for Fairy Tale?"

"No, not really. It was more of a co-op for just one mission."

"What mission?"

"Umm…" Sheckley scratched his chin. "I think it was five months ago… or something like that. We found some American SSE soldiers at a beach in South Korea, so we decided to take them out. We were getting ready when Al detected a bunch of yōkai a few miles off."

"A Fairy-Tale subdivision?"

"No, it was your mom." Sheckley said sarcastically.

Akuha's stare darkened. Her mother was a touchy subject.

"There was a whole airship full of them Fairy Tale guys. We came up and talked to them for a bit, and apparently they were after the SSE troops too, so they let us join in." Sheckley looked down at the table as if recalling a bad memory.

"Then what happened?"

"Those humans… they had cooler gear than anything I've seen in movies. All fifteen of them were wearing some kind of power armor with gadgets and weapons all over it." Sheckley paused and made a grim face. "They completely _destroyed_ us out there. Even the subdivision leader was killed off like he was nothing."

"It was the 6th subdivision wasn't it?"

"Huh?"

"I remember that the entire 6th subdivision was wiped out not long ago; Gairen Yuki and all 300 of his men." Akuha shuddered at the thought of them being slaughtered by only 15 humans. "There were many S-rank yōkai in that group. You still got those humans right?"

Sheckley shook his head. "We couldn't even bring down one. They just mowed _us_ down like a boss until Al was the last one standing."

"He was the only capable fighter."

"Yeah, and that really impressed the airship's crew that watched. We were asked to join Fairy Tale immediately when they saw what he could do." Sheckley took a cookie from a jar on the table and took a bite. "He declined and didn't tell them why."

"But he told you and Griggs?"

Sheckley nodded as he chewed. "He said he read their minds with advanced energy detection and discovered what they were planning. Instead of joining them he wanted to stop them."

"Alistair knew?" Akuha nearly shouted.

"Yup."

"What is it? What's Fairy Tale up to?"

Sheckley shrugged. "No idea."

Akuha's enthusiasm vanished. "But didn't Alistair tell you?"

"He did. We weren't listening."

Akuha buried her face into her palms. "Dammit."

"Hey, I'm trying to help you as best I can." Sheckley nibbled on another cookie. "If it makes you feel any better, I do remember a little bit."

"Tell me everything you know."

"_You_ already know that the pink haired girl is the center of all this. Fairy Tale needs something called a…" Sheckley thought to himself. "Sinko… Shisno…"

"Shinso."

"Bingo!" Sheckley said, he pointed his finger at her eagerly.

"But Moka isn't a Shinso vampire." Akuha remembered Tsukune's horrific transformation during the school fire. That was the power of a Shinso vampire, radiating from the blood that Moka had given him. "Or rather she _wasn't_."

"There was actually one other thing they needed."

"_Please_ tell me you remember it…"

"I do." Sheckley nodded. "Sorta."

"What do you mean 'sorta'?"

"Well, the leaders of Fairy Tale didn't exactly know either. They needed a way to break Moka's seal without the risk of killing her, so they looked around for ways to solve that problem."

Akuha had an idea of how complex Moka's seal was; even the strongest magic wouldn't put a dent in it. Normally, Fairy Tale would've already set up a measure for this well in advance, but seeing that they didn't meant they probably discovered Moka's Shinso blood only recently.

"For the next few months, we just murdered every seal expert Fairy Tale came to. We also destroyed every seal-breaking artifact they went after." Sheckley reached into the cookie jar and stuffed three cookies into his mouth at once.

Akuha patently waited for him to chew his food. "No more cookies. What happened next?"

Sheckley gulped the cookies down. "Eventually, we decided that we couldn't keep doing this stuff forever, so we planned to totally erase Moka's Shinso blood instead."

"Kill her?"

"Na, Al was afraid someone would just use her blood samples. After we kidnapped her, we were gonna bring her to a machine to suck out her Shinso blood, then maybe we would dump it into a vat of acid or something." Sheckley made a goaded stare. "But you killed Al before we got that far."

Akuha took a moment to take everything in. "I guess I'm up to speed then."

"Yeah, and Fairy Tale probably has their seal-cracker by now."

"Not yet they don't." Akuha pulled out a slip of paper. "About a week from now, some of Fairy Tale's subdivision leaders are attending a party hosted by an old client of mine. They're in good relations because of some jobs I did for him." She passed the paper across the table. "He owns the world's largest firm on magical seals."

Sheckley took the paper and unfolded it. It was an invitation to a wealthy man's party. "How'd you get this?"

Akuha found it in her pocket when she awoke three days after the riot. "It came from a contact I have within Fairy Tale."

"You have a spy working for you?"

"Not exactly, but she's given me my only lead."

"Sounds like you're already good-to-go." Sheckley slid the paper back. "Whataya' still talking to me for?"

Akuha accepted the paper and stuffed it in her pocket. "Thanks for the info I guess." She stood up and started to walk off. It was high time she'd left anyways.

"Be careful. We're not 'good guys' in a kid-show."

"Labels like 'good' or 'evil' are too definite for reality." Akuha left the room.

Sheckley just sat there as his guest left the house. "Man," he resumed stuffing himself with cookies, "that girl seems a lot less bitchy than I remember."

XXX

Akuha walked along the sidewalk outside the house she just visited, staring at the ground as she thought to herself. She understood how Alistair fit into this, but what about Talia or Tsukune? If they already knew Tsukune had Shinso blood, they wouldn't have tried to kidnap Moka too. The power of a Shinso can belong only to one person of that bloodline; they couldn't both have it. Perhaps Gyokuro was just being thorough?

"You're done?" Yukari said, leaning her back against a tree.

Akuha looked up and stopped in front of her. "I got all I needed."

Yukari brought up her wand. "Hey Ruby," she said to it like a microphone, "Ruby. Are you there?"

"Oh, you're ready to come back?" Ruby's voice resonated from the wand. "Okay, just a moment please."

Yukari's wand flashed and a purple aura of light engulfed them. The light slowly faded, revealing the charred Yōkai Academy entrance courtyard.

"So," Ruby said from her folding chair, "was your visit productive?"

Akuha nearly fell over. Teleporting always made her feel woozy. "It wasn't a waste of time." She noticed Ruby was having a hard time standing up, so she grabbed her wrist and helped her up. "You shouldn't be walking around in this condition."

"I know," Ruby said, using her wand as a walking stick, "I'm headed back to the dorms now."

Akuha began towards the dead-tree forest. "Yukari, can you go with her please?"

Yukari raised a brow at the word 'please'. "Uh, ok. I was headed there anyways." The witches walked the other way.

XXX

**The Woods**

Akuha continued walking while pondering as she had been. "The party…" Akuha mumbled, "It can't be a trap. She would've just finished me off when she had the chance." Her head was completely in the clouds, brainstorming every possibility based off what she knew. "_Gah_!" she yelped as someone grabbed her from behind.

"You're late!" Tsukune teased, "You said there was a penalty for being late!" He began a tickle her wildly on the hips.

"Argh! St- stop it!" Akuha laughed rather girlishly for how serious she usually was. "Not this again! Tsu-" She laughed, and even squealed too uncontrollably to speak.

"Aha!" said a third voice, "An adorable couple if I ever saw one."

Tsukune stopped his tickle-attack. "Couple?" Both he and Akuha froze.

Approaching them was a boy with a long braided ponytail, wearing an old-fashion Chinese outfit. "Good day to you two." He put a hand to his chest and grinned. "I am Fan Fan Wong, and I've been searching high and low for the both of you."

Akuha noted his last name. "Wong?" Her expression darkened. It was quite possible she was looking at a direct descendant of Touhou Fuhai himself, the creator of the Jigen-Tou.

"I have come to make a proposition." Fan Fan said coolly, "Not long ago, operatives of an evil organization attacked this academy." He folded his arms behind his back. "I can see from all the damage that was done that they were exceptionally powerful."

"Uh…" Tsukune considered mentioning that the Capricorns didn't start the fire, but they _were_ quite fearsome nonetheless.

"But as powerful as they were, you defeated them!" Fan Fan noted Akuha's red eyes and Tsukune's holy lock. "Seeing how you're both vampires, I can see why." He took Akuha's hand and dropped to one knee. "Therefore, I would like you to join my family!"

Akuha looked befuddled. "Ex…cuse me?"

"I came to this academy to find strong individuals." Fan Fan said, "I asked around, and it's clear from what the students say that you two are the strongest!"

Tsukune scratched his head. "That's flattering, but…" His training, Moka, and Fairy Tale all came to mind. "I think we'll have to turn down your proposal."

Fan Fan released Akuha's hand and stood up. "Oh don't worry!" he sung, "It makes absolutely no difference that you're legally married. The mafia will welcome you all the same!"

Akuha looked almost traumatized. "Listen, we're not-"

"You don't need to explain!" Fan Fan said in bliss, "It's only natural that a man and a woman of similar age and strength should forge an invincible partnership! Vampires keep to themselves after all."

Akuha and Tsukune just stared at him like he was from another planet.

"Fortunately, a couple so powerful yet compassionate would be all the more-"

"We're not interested." Akuha declared.

Fan Fan didn't seem to hear her. "Ah… I can feel it now." He looked towards the sun in the sky. "The warmth of the bonds forged between-"

Akuha nudged Tsukune's shoulder. "Let's just split." she said as Fan Fan continued to ramble, "Anything we say sails right over him."

"-and so I can see beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Wong family…" Fan Fan finally noticed that Akuha and Tsukune were gone. "Huh? Wait!" He looked around frantically. "Where'd you go?"

XXX

**Grassy Plain**

After sharing a few short laughs, Tsukune went right back to training to make up for lost time. Like yesterday he had to do more weird exercises to improve his physique, but by now he had actually grown accustomed to it… at least enough to stop complaining.

"Sorry about giving him the wrong idea." Tsukune said. With a massive bolder on his back, and less sizable rocks strapped to his arms and legs, he repeatedly made arm motions as he walked to help loosen up his joints. It felt agonizing, yet somehow he could still manage a smile. "This training has just been wearing me out so much, so I wanted to loosen up."

Akuha blushed a little. "I don't mind, Tsuk." She sat down onto the grass and opened a book. "Hah, 'a couple'." she chuckled under her breath. "What a weird kid." She heard a fallen twig snap at the far side of the field. "Hmm?" Akuha shot up and turned.

Ginei stepped into the open field. "Hey, killer." he said with a hand raised.

"Oh," Akuha made a casual smile, "hey Ginei."

Ginei made a puzzled look. It seemed like Akuha was gradually getting nicer as time went on. "I see you're in a good mood." He made a short glance over his shoulder. "Anyways, someone wanted me to help find you." Someone came up next to him. "He told me it was urgent."

Any traces of Akuha's 'good mood' faded instantly when she saw who it was. "Oh… great…"

"Most impressive." Fan Fan said as he observed the field, "You've got your own training grounds to keep your skills sharp. As expected of the couple I want!"

Akuha trembled in annoyance. "You… brought… _him_ here?"

Ginei shrugged. "Hey, how was I supposed to know that you don't like him?" He turned and went back the way he came. "He's your problem now. See ya."

Akuha slid a hand down her face, but noticed that Tsukune had stopped to watch. "Keep going, Tsuk. It's not like we haven't been sidetracked enough today."

"Yes sensei!" Tsukune said strongly. He went back to his exercise.

"Aha…" Fan Fan began to approach Akuha, "and a dominatrix if I ever saw one."

Akuha began to rattle in anger, looking like she was about to explode. "Listen," she said in a polite manner, "we're on a tight schedule with his training, so…" she paused, as if wondering what to say next, "go away!" she yelled unpleasantly.

Fan Fan raised his hands defensively. "Hey, hey, hey. I wouldn't think to disrupt something like that. He's honing his skills to get stronger." He stepped back and dropped his arms. "You on the other hand don't seem to be busy."

Akuha just looked at him blankly. Three months ago, she'd just kill anyone that annoyed her this much, but that wouldn't sit well with Mikogami or the friends she had made here. She had to put up with it.

"I'm not gonna give up." Fan Fan said, "Both of you are much too powerful to be out on freelance."

"We're not getting mixed up in someone else's affairs. We have our own problems to deal with."

"Then it'd be in your best interest to make allies. We could help each other."

"Help? You'd just slow us down."

Fan Fan made a stern look, struggling to think of what to say to convince her. "Alright, if that's the way you want it." From out of his sleeve, dozens of old Chinese coins sled onto his right hand. "Fight me! If I win, you'll have to join the Wong family!" A surge of electricity-like energy coursed through them, shaping the coins into the form of a sword and stabbing it through a charm.

Akuha leapt back, not cautiously, but curious as to what Fan Fan would do. "A coin sword? That's a summoning technique."

Fan Fan focused hard, holding the coin sword sideways in front of his chin. "Sure my opponent is a vampire, but I am the successor of the proud Wong family!" A third eye appeared on his forehead, revealing him to be a Yasha. "My ancestors, whom dwell in the shadows… become my sword and destroy my enemy." His third eye and coin sword began to grow brightly. "Come to me phoenix! Scorch all those that stand against me!"

Akuha felt her blood run cold. "Phoenix?" She had seen these legendary creatures before. A fully matured one once leveled an entire mountain before her eyes. If Fan Fan could really command something so powerful, she might actually consider his offer.

"Arise Pyotan, sacred bird of fire!" Fan Fan was engulfed in a brilliant flash of light.

Akuha looked hard, awaiting the creature of legends. "What the…"

Tsukune began to crack up as he watched. "I got to admit, that's not what I expected."

Fan Fan turned his head toward what he had summoned. "Panda?" A huge, fat looking panda sat there, rowdily eating heaps of bamboo. "Dang it…" He rarely got the creature he was aiming for.

Akuha just stared at him, unimpressed.

"Let's try this again!" Fan Fan pulled out another charm and tried the ritual once more. Another flash of light went off and faded. This time it really was a phoenix, but…

"I think I gave you too much credit," Akuha chuckled, "and that's saying something."

A baby phoenix chick with a chubby body and black button-like eyes chirped from the ground. It was barley larger than Akuha's fist and didn't emit any flame.

Fan Fan groaned. "I'll never get them to join if this keeps happening…" Somehow he had summoned the phoenix as a baby chick.

"Yeah, very funny." Akuha said blandly, "Now if you're through wasting our time…" she walked away and turned her attention towards Tsukune.

Fan Fan fell to his knees with his head dropped. "I can't return home in such shame." he whispered to himself, "We need strong allies. We need to win or we'll never achieve our family's goals!"

As if hearing Fan Fan, the baby phoenix bit onto the charm in his sword and pulled it away. "Sounds interesting…" said a deep, booming demonic voice, "I shall grant thy wish."

Akuha took notice as the chick suddenly shined like a second sun. It began to change, shrouding itself with fire and rapidly growing to the size of an airplane. It became a vast, majestic bird that strongly resembled a swan, featuring two long feathery streamers off the back of the head, fiery radiant eyes, a long graceful tail, and thin black legs.

"Holy crap!" Tsukune shouted, "That's a phoenix?"

"Wow," Akuha murmured, "when he gets his summons right, he gets them _right_."

Fan Fan ran from his phoenix as fast as he could, careful not to get burnt to a crisp. He no longer had the charm that allowed him to command it.

Akuha was taken back at first, but slowly smiled. "On second thought…" she looked over at Tsukune, "Tsuk, get rid of those weights. You're going to do a bit of sparring."

Tsukune gulped. "Against that?" The giant flaming bird certainly looked scary, but he remembered Moka's blood. If Vampires were the strongest of yōkai, wouldn't that mean he could take on a phoenix?

The phoenix made an ear-shattering screech as it flapped its wings and flew into the air. "Rise up and face me!" it said in its booming voice, "Confront the fire that cleanses the world!" It illuminated the entire campus to a far greater extent than the sun had.

Tsukune quickly dropped the rocks tied to him and stepped forward. "Are you sure about this, Akuha? You haven't taught me any techniques yet."

"You'll never know what you're going to get in a real fight." Akuha said with her arms crossed, "This is probably the best kind of training you can get." She fiddled with the two white hairs that hung near her right eye. "I'll… step in if things get bad."

"Ready to set the world on fire! Hehehe…" The phoenix dive bombed at Tsukune beak-first. A massive explosion of fire and stone erupted as it speared the front of its face into the ground.

Fan Fan watched from a distance, all three of his eyes opened wide. "No way…"

"What?" said the phoenix, "He stopped me!"

Tsukune stood at the center of the crater with both hands on the phoenix's beak. Every blood vein on his body looked like it was going to pop. Just catching the phoenix took everything he had. "This is nothing compared to my weight training!" He punched the phoenix with all his strength.

The phoenix shook off the blow and tried to peck the boy under his beak.

"Woah!" Tsukune barely dodged the attack. Pyotan was fast, but he was still a snail compared to Akuha.

"Hold still!" Pyotan rapidly pecked at the ground like a chicken eating grain, aiming for Tsukune as he evaded every strike.

Tsukune avoided another attack and countered, knocking Pyotan onto his back.

Enraged, Pyotan shot up and got back on his talons. "I will not be bested!" He pointed his beak high into the sky and opened his wingspan out wide. He began to shine again, this time so brightly that it wasn't possible to see.

Tsukune didn't need to see. Even with his eyes closed, the phoenix radiated so much energy that he'd probably sense it miles away without trying. With his eyes still shut, he leapt up as Pyotan blew a jet of fire at the ground below him. "This is where Moka would remind you your place!" He punched Pyotan across the face, sending the phoenix tumbling across the field. The blinding light quickly faded, only for dust and dirt particles to take its place.

Fan Fan stared through the dust clouds in disbelief. His phoenix lay there, beaten and humiliated.

"Sorry…" Pyotan said in a much less threatening tone, "I got cocky. I'll just… go now."

Akuha could tell that Pyotan was _considerably_ weaker than the standard phoenix. Comparatively speaking, he was little older than a hatchling, and would probably need about ten more years before he could challenge a vampire as an equal. Still, even that wasn't a small feat. "Nice job, Tsuk." Akuha patted Tsukune on the shoulder. There was no need to burst his bubble.

Fan Fan came sprinting up to them ecstatically. "That… was… _incredible_!" he screamed.

"Great…" Tsukune panted, "I think that just made him _more_ determined."

"You beat the legendary bird of fire, and so quickly too!" Fan Fan waved his arms around as he shouted, "You're more powerful than I ever imagined! Fairy Tale won't even know what hit them!"

Akuha and Tsukune each made a somber look. "Fan Fan," Akuha started, "do you even know who I am?"

"Uh…" Fan Fan thought for a moment, "You never gave me your name."

"She is Akuha Shuzen." The voice of a woman was heard from the forest. "A vampire, whom at the age of thirteen, became the Miu family's greatest assassin. Feared and loathed, she gained much infamy in the underground." A woman dressed like a traditional Jiang Shi floated towards them with her arms outstretched. Talismans lined the bottom of her dress and the top of her cap. She had a long black ponytail and facial features similar to Fan Fan's. "Commonly known as the 'Black Devil', am I right?"

"I see you've done your homework." Akuha studied the Jiang Shi, or zombie for simpler terms. "As expected of Touhou Fuhai's direct dicple, Ling Ling Wong."

Fan Fan looked back and forth between his sister and Akuha. "Do you know each other?"

"No." Akuha said, staring Ling Ling down. "We don't." Touhou Fuhai was one of Fairy Tale's strongest enemies. It made that she would learn all she could about him.

"Just one question." Ling Ling said, staring back at her "Why would one of Fairy Tale's strongest members defect?"

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…


	3. Chpt 3: Getting Better

**Akuha's Kenpō instructor was a perverted old geezer.**

**^ Sorry for being lazy, but I just wanted to finish this sooner. I had a hard time getting motivated for the second half.**

* * *

**The Floating Garden**

Fleets of massive airships docked and departed around the floating structure that dwarfed them. A circular city-like moving fortress over ten square miles large: Fairy Tale's main headquarters.

Another group of a dozen airships docked at one of the ports along the rim, making booming metallic echoes as they each touched down.

Kahlua watched the airships through a window of the docking station.

"Seems like they've arrived." Miyabi Fujisaki came up to the window next to Kahlua, his fingers on a cigarette in his mouth. "Are you worried for her, Kahlua?"

Kahlua put a hand to the glass as she continued to look on.

"Don't worry, she is your beloved younger sister. The organization will treat her with utmost respect."

"Yeah…" Kahlua sounded uneasy, "but if she tries to escape…"

"Hmph…" Miyabi let out a puff of smoke as he grinned, "there's even less need to worry about that." Below them, legions of people walked out of the airships. Cuffed, and escorted by armed-guards was a depressed, teary-eyed Moka. "You should know full well how secure the floating garden is. Even a vampire would have to behave here."

From out of the nearest airship, Talia stepped out with a white cat cradled in her arms. "My my," she said, "it's almost a full house today." She made a mildly shaken look as her cat drooled onto her sleeve. "Oh," she smiled, "I see you've still yet to grow out of doing that." She tapped the cat's nose, giggling in her ever-perky manner.

XXX

Kahlua strode through the interior halls of the fortress, careful not to trip over her own dress. She had just finished a long chat with her superior, Miyabi. She couldn't help but worry about what her mother Gyokuro was planning for Moka. "Huh?" She froze in the middle of the hall. It was faint and far off, but it sounded as if a girl were humming a lullaby. "That's _really_ out of place here."

Talia sat in her personal quarters, combing her long hair in front of a mirror as she sung to herself softly.

…_Tell him to reap it with a sickle of leather. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme._

_And gather it all in a bunch of heather, then he'll be a true love of mine._

_Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme._

_Remember me to one who lives there, he once was a true love of mine._

"Hello Talia," Kahlua said, opening the door, "you seem to be as cheery as always."

Talia turned an eye to her visitor. "Kahlua!" she said gleefully, "A pleased greeting to you, my friend."

Kahlua shut the door behind her. "That was a beautiful song I overheard. What's it called?"

"You mean to say you've never heard of Scarborough Fair? It's a classic."

"Sorry, I haven't." Kahlua came up next to Talia and stared at their reflections. Their dresses bore a notable contrast.

"It's a ballad about someone requesting their former lover to perform impossible tasks." Talia placed the hairbrush into the drawer before her. "Only with the completion of these tasks, would the lover be taken back."

Kahlua stared her head for a moment. "Hah, I would never have guessed it meant that."

Talia slowly stood up. "The lyrics essentially necessitate emotional interpretation. They aren't exactly easy to understand." She walked across the room and sat on her bed. "But enough about songs, have you fully recovered yet?"

"I'm feeling much better." Kahlua said with optimism, "My hands finally stopped shaking, but I still have a slight headache." She itched her forehead. It was honestly worse than any headache she'd ever felt. "That drug the overseer gave me was really something else."

"Why did you take it?"

"Huh?" Kahlua tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

Talia laid down onto on her side. "The overseer wasn't even your direct superior, and still you obeyed him without hesitation, nor the slightest clue as to what you were taking. Even worse, it was in an effort to harm your elder sister, whom you get along with." She patted her cat as it lay asleep on her pillow. "Would you like to elucidate?"

Kahlua just stared at Talia without a word. Refusing an order didn't occur to her. It never has. "Uhm… I'm not sure I follow. I was given an order."

"And you didn't at least think about it?"

Kahlua shrugged. Of course she didn't like to kill people, she even cried when ordered to, but she still did it without question. "I guess… no. It's how mom raised me: don't think, just _do_ until the job is over."

"I would advise you to consider thinking for yourself for a change."

Kahlua made a displeased look. "It's that kind of thinking that caused Akuha to become a traitor."

"Now now, Kahlua." Talia sat up. "I'm not telling you to disobey any order you detest, but for your own well-being, at least try to think about them more. You wouldn't want to end up in the infirmary for _another_ two months would you?"

Kahlua gave a modest nod. Maybe a little more initiative couldn't hurt. "Uh?" Her heeled-boot tapped a book on the floor. "Oh, what have you been reading now?" She picked the book up and looked at its title.

_Philosophical Anthropology_.

Kahlua stared hard at the cover. "I don't even know what that means."

"Questions of metaphysics and phenomenology of the psyche." Talia said blandly, "I finished that one a _long_ time ago."

Kahlua put the book onto a table next to two others, '_William of Ockham_' and '_Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy_'. "Nerd." she teased, "Figures." She made a short laugh.

"I don't really care what I read." Talia got up and moved to her bookcase. It was enormous, even boasting a sliding ladder. "The foremost point to having all these books is to exercise the mind, and unlike any math or science, metaphysics has no definite answer." She pulled a book from the shelf. "There's no limit to the amount of thought you can put into it." On the book's cover was Raphael's famous painting, '_The School of Athens_', showing Plato pointing to the heavens, and Aristotle to the people around them. The rationalist and the empiricist.

"I guess keeping your mind sharp has paid off." Kahlua chirped, "You're the only ranking member that isn't good in a bare-knuckled fight." She looked at the old junghan clock in the room. "It's about noon. Want to head over to the dining hall?"

Talia set the book back into the shelf. "I could use a pastry or two." She started towards the door.

Kahlua laughed gleefully. "What is it between you and junk food?"

The girls left the room and walked side-by-side through the lavish hallways. This part of the Floating Garden was far more luxurious than the barracks.

"By the way…" Kahlua's perky attitude somewhat dampened. "Small talk isn't exactly why I dropped by."

"The Clíodhna operation?"

"You got it on your first guess." Kahlua made a wide grin, "I was told I've been reassigned to your division. I thought I'd check in with you, seeing as how we'll be working together again."

"Wonderful! Perhaps I could show you around once we get there?" Talia said joyfully, "True to its name, the city is remarkably beautiful."

"Oh!" Kahlua looked excited. "You've been there before?"

Talia's smile slanted a little. It's where she grew up. "Once or twice."

Both girls smiled and waved at a group of eight uniformed soldiers as they passed by, Talia being particularly more flirtatious. The soldiers blushed and waved back at them. They seemed like delicate flowers, but in reality they had each killed a lot of people.

XXX

Moka looked around from the middle of her room. Her bed was draped and sat in front of a flat-screen television. There were expensive paintings on the wall and flowers rested on the glass table. The room was clean, luxurious, and very well furnished. None of this helped her get over the fact that she could not leave.

Armed guards stood outside the locked door and a security camera nailed to the ceiling watched her from the corner of the room.

Moka sank down onto the bare floor. Upset with being kidnapped yet again. Normally she would have cried like she did the last time… and the time before that… and before that… and before that… and before… "Hey!" she suddenly rose up and shouted at the camera, "You guys kidnapped me _long_ after it stopped being cool!"

Gyokuro made a mildly startled look at the monitor she was watching. This 'sealed Moka' didn't seem quite as delicate as she was led to believe. Then again, it looked like the girl had snapped and was losing it.

The command center Gyokuro sat in was a large circular room with a seemingly bottomless pit in place of a floor. Besides the ledge at the foot of the huge monitor, the only other places to stand were on the floating platforms that descended from the ceiling above.

"You called?" Galvinro said in his reluctant, impish voice. His platform lowered and steadied beside another. Miyabi stood nearby, perhaps in the middle of a conversation with Gyokuro.

"I was just leaving." Miyabi said. His platform levitated away.

"Ah, there you are." Gyokuro spun around on her rotating chair. "I was beginning to think that someone so small might get lost in place so large."

Galvinro absolutely _hated_ getting teased about his size, but for Gyokuro he had to put up with it. "I've already told you everything that went down at Yōkai Academy. What else do you want to talk about?"

"Fairy Tale's next move, of course." Gyokuro seemed in high spirits, yet her tone was as cold as ice. "With such a weighty situation, we ought to begin the next phase without delay."

"Yeah, I've heard of the deal we arranged in the city of Clíodhna." Galvinro irritably rolled his eyes. "What about it?"

"Well…" Gyokuro trailed her finger around the rim of the wineglass she held. "Being one of our greatest providers of funds, you're amply qualified to handle this transaction."

"You're placing me in charge of it?" Galvinro grinned. "Alright. Who will be sent for protection?"

"The entire subdivision you belong to," Gyokuro said, "as well as all of Raika's."

"Two whole subdivisions for a mere business deal? But that's overkill."

"At this stage, I'd send _all_ our subdivisions to pick up dropped car keys if the stakes were as high." Gyokuro made a somewhat mischievous smile. "Just remember, you are to complete your objective by any means necessary, and I don't care whom or how many you have to bribe, kill, or sacrifice to get it done. Do you understand me?"

"No…" Galvinro shook his head. "Not really. We have good relations with this guy. Why would we need to take those measures?"

"Because this is everything we've worked for." Gyokuro drank some of the human blood in her wineglass. "Besides, a man could change in the four years that's gone by. Feel free to kill him and take over his business if he, for some reason, doesn't cooperate. It wouldn't matter." She rotated her chair and looked back at the monitors. "_Nothing_ will matter, not once it finally begins."

Galvinro nodded and smiled. "That won't be a problem."

"One more thing. That young lady, Talia." Gyokuro tapped a button on the monitor, switching camera feed to the mess hall. Talia seemed to be teasing and flirting with some of the men there. "Magnificent isn't she? She's as weak as a human, and yet she's proven to be quite competent."

Galvinro gave a spiteful look. "I'm guessing you're going to put her in charge of the mission."

"That isn't what I'm getting at." Gyokuro said, "She's been useful, but someone like that doesn't just come from nowhere." She looked hard at Talia. "She has no apparent relatives, no associates of any kind, no home before joining Fairy Tale…" As if sensing the camera's movements, Talia looked back at the camera and smiled, deviously. "I want you to keep a close eye on her… just to be thorough."

"A close eye on that ass?" Galvinro made a perverted chuckle. "That won't be a problem either."

XXX

**Grassy Plain**

After suffering through five whole days of unbearable exercise, Tsukune was finally able to begging his hand-to-hand combat training, and it certainly wasn't any easier. Akuha didn't seem to hold back during sparring sessions, that or she was just that far ahead of him. When Akuha threw an attack, it would suddenly change into something completely different before it hit. Sometimes she would fake an attack, creating an opening when he reacted to it, and struck with a real attack he didn't see coming.

"That was a faint." Akuha had told him, "It's to trick your enemy's reflexes." Though she made it look easy, Tsukune could never get it down no matter how many times it was explained or demonstrated. Eventually, they decided to put a pin on it and practice it later.

"A convincing faint isn't easy to pull off." Kurumu said as she watched, "Me and Mizore never really mastered them when we trained with Gin."

Mizore sat next to her like a statue. "It's something you need to get the feel for rather than learn."

Yukari made a grim face. "Forget mastering faints. I'm hoping Tsukune makes through this alive."

"Don't worry." Ruby told her, "He's _always_ been a pro on getting beaten up and staying conscious."

The four girls sat on the hill as an audience to Akuha and Tsukune's sparring session.

"C'mon Tsukune, I know you can do better than this." Akuha effortlessly blocked every one of Tsukune's attacks with only one hand.

Tsukune looked more tense and uptight as he attacked faster. Sweat dripped from his brow until he suddenly collapsed to his knees and palms.

Akuha looked at him unimpressed. "This is no good at all. I've seen you fight harder than this before."

Tsukune felt his body wobble as he got up. He wasn't hurt, just too tired to stand. "I'm sorry, it's just…" He wasn't sure why he couldn't fight as well as he usually did. In the past, the only times he ever fought was to protect one of his friends. Perhaps it was because he was fighting to hone his skills rather than protect anyone. Hell, he knew Akuha wasn't going to kill him. She was _one_ of the friends that he treasured…

"Just take a deep breath and loosen up Tsuk." Akuha said patiently, "In Kenpō you indeed want to draw out your strength, but also while keeping your arms extended and relaxed." She brought her arms out and made usual combat stance. "Don't hold back, let your arms fly!"

Tsukune nodded and made the same combat stance she did. He was getting a lot better at mimicking it. "Alright." he said with a smile.

Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, and Ruby each looked quite impressed as Tsukune moved to attack his sparring partner. His strikes were no longer a reckless flurry of punches, but far more agile, swift jabs aimed at joints and vital areas, though each of them were blocked anyways. Still, he seemed notably faster and more focused than they remembered from his past fights.

"I've kinda' been wondering." Tsukune said as he kept attacking, "Japan has martial arts styles like Karate and Jujitsu. Why does only China have one word to categorize _all_ their martial art styles?" He shrugged. "Kung Fu I mean."

"That or Wushu." Akuha blocked a few more attacks with her wrist. "You see, the Chinese like to mix things up a little. A martial artist would learn a number of different styles and then combine them all into one custom style. Every possible combination can't be counted on one hand, and it's plenty different from how the rest of the world does things, so foreigners put them all under one label. It's not like they looked for any distinction between them."

"Makes sense." Tsukune blocked a series of attacks rather quickly.

Akuha felt impressed. "Not bad!" As Tsukune made a straight punch at her, she put her left elbow to his arm, letting the force of his punch rotate her. Using his own attack against him, she rammed her elbow directly against his forehead and knocked him down. "But you leave yourself open too often." She frowned when she noticed Tsukune wasn't getting back up. "Uh, Tsuk?" He didn't seem to be moving.

"Did you just kill him?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Akuha walked over to Tsukune and knelt down next to him. "I'll bet he probably just-" Her composure suddenly broke like glass shattering. "_Dah_! He's not breathing!" She considered giving him mouth-to-mouth, but because of his nosebleed she wasn't sure she could resist biting him. She looked to the four girls on the hill. "I need one of you to give him CRP, now!"

"Me!" All four of them raised their hands at once.

Akuha put a palm to her forehead. "Even at a time like this?" Normally she would trust Ruby to do this, but she was still badly wounded. Kurumu was a succubus, and kissing a boy would put him under a spell. Yukari was too small and frail to do CPR adequately. "Mizore, get over here."

Mizore made a light smile and began to walk over. "Thanks."

Akuha looked at her dully. "I'm not trying to do you a favor, I'm just…" She paused for a moment. "Ya' know what? Forget it. I'll do it myself!"

XXX

**The Dorms**

Tsukune was brought to a warm, vacant room and placed in a bed. He was breathing again, but still out.

"Did you really have to be that rough on him?" Ruby asked.

Akuha sat on a folding chair next to the bed. "I'm just trying to mimic the same training I went through." Come to think of it, she was knocked out _several_ times a day when she began her sparring training.

"I don't see why you couldn't have gone a little easier on him."

"Sorry." Akuha brushed a finger over her lips with a blush. Giving him mouth-to-mouth was called for, but… "When I get excited, it's hard to hold back."

Ruby laughed and patted her on the back. "Hah, it's the same for me too."

Akuha made a puzzled look. She hadn't the slightest clue as to what Ruby meant. "Uhm…"

"But anyways, the nurse said he should be fine as long as he rests 'till the end of the day."

"The end of the day?" Akuha said sounding baffled. "But we had so little time to begin with!"

"Well," Ruby teased, "maybe you should have thought of that before knocking him out." She laughed and started towards the door. "Goodness knows your behavior around boys could use work." She left Akuha alone with Tsukune.

Akuha sat and watched Tsukune quietly, the only sound in the room being a clock slowly ticking. "Yeah, there's definitely some room for improvement." The both of them had been fairly distant while at this academy. Tsukune still saw her as an ally, but he just wasn't as casual or relaxed around her as when they were hanging out at his hometown, no small part due to kidnapping him.

Akuha had actually enjoyed being around Tsukune back when he thought of her as normal… relatively speaking of the other girls anyways. She had never been so carefree since her time in the Shuzen household, and it wasn't like she didn't get the badass assassin treatment enough.

Maybe there was a way to get Tsuk to loosen up again. That picnic was a step in the right direction, but it was a while ago. Akuha didn't want things to fade away and be forgotten. "Hmm, Clíodhna _is_ considered to be the most romantic city in the world next to Venice…" With five other girls competing with her, she would have to make her time there alone with Tsuk count… wait, why was she thinking about _this_ of all things? "I just realized how stupid that all sounded…"

Tsukune sounded like he was mumbling something in his sleep. "Mmm…"

"Huh?" Akuha leaned forward to listen.

"M… Mok…" Tsukune whispered.

Akuha sighed and rested her chin onto the side of the bed. Tsukune clearly had Moka on his mind right now. Like Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, and Ruby, she knew that a 'friend' was the most she'd ever be to him. "What am I to Tsukune?" She repeated question she was asked weeks ago. "No idea. What is he to me?" Friend, student, comrade, blood bank… "I think the answer is: yet to be seen."

XXX

At sunrise the next day, Tsukune finally opened his eyes. The lights were off and the curtain was drawn over the window, though some light shined through. The only sound came from the ticking clock on the wall.

"Uhh…" Tsukune scratched his head, "What happened?" He couldn't remember how he got here. He had been sparring with Akuha, but the rest was a blur. He sat up and started to push the covers off of him. "Hmm?" He noticed Akuha asleep beside the bed, her knees on the floor and her head and arms resting on the side of the bed. She had a very cute sleeping face, nothing like what Tsukune would've expected from her. He brushed his finger across her cheek and decided to leave her be. He got out of bed quietly, careful not to wake her, and then put on his shoes and walked out the door.

Normal studies seemed to have resumed for the students, though lectures were replaced with more textbooks and classwork with extra homework until repairs to the academy were finally finished. There were also many students chatting, brushing their teeth, or playing board games.

Tsukune's first thought was to talk to one of his friends, but he remembered he was in the boy's side of the dorms. "Ginei?" Tsukune called out as he walked through the crowded halls, "Ginei, are you around here?" He helped himself into Ginei's room, finding the werewolf sitting at a desk looking at some sort of photo album. "There you are."

"_Huh_!" Ginei hurriedly stuffed the photo album into a drawer. "Uhm…" He calmed down and cleared his throat. "Hey there Tsukune. Glad to see you conscious again."

Tsukune leaned on the wall. "What happened to me? I don't remember a thing."

"I don't know. I wasn't there." Ginei said, "But apparently your talent as a crash-test dummy has its limits."

Tsukune nodded. "Do you know where I could find Kurumu, Yukari, Mizore, or Ruby? I'm pretty sure they were around during my 'accident'."

"I think Kurumu is chilling out in the courtyard." Ginei stood up with his hand raised, as if telling Tsukune to stay. "That reminds me. There's something I've been wondering."

"Why so many girls like me?"

"No I asked you that before. We don't know." Ginei said quickly, "I wanted to ask why you never take advantage of them. I mean, Kurumu and Mizore have practically begged to get knocked up a couple of times, and you keep turning them down."

"Well…" Tsukune scratched his head. It was an unusual question. "It just… wouldn't be right."

"That's it? It's just 'not right'?"

Tsukune shrugged. "What kind of friend would I be? 'Making love' is just a brief moment. Friendship can last forever."

Ginei snickered as he shook his head. "You're a weird guy, Tsukune. No one turns down a girl that throws herself. No one but you." He sighed. "Have you at least kissed a girl before?"

Tsukune remember giving Akuha mouth-to-mouth after she nearly drowned, but that wasn't really a kiss. "Nope, not once." he said, "How about you?"

"Uhm…" Ginei often had girls around him. That lady-killer smile he always wore made him seem quite charming, until he revealed his true colors and got a slap in the face. "I've kissed two girls."

"What?" Tsukune sounded surprised. "Just two? I was honestly expecting _a lot_ more."

Ginei remembered Sun. He really liked her, but never had the chance to kiss her. "The first girl I kissed was some orange-haired broad from the Soccer Club." He frowned. "She tasted like a burger. I stopped liking her after that."

"What about the second girl?"

Ginei remembered kissing Talia. "She tasted like strawberries." He made a wide grin. "I liked her a lot. Too bad she's evil."

Tsukune had a pretty good guess for whom he was talking about. "You still love her?"

"She probably doesn't love me back," Ginei snickered, "but that's _very_ typical for me, right?"

Tsukune smiled and shrugged. "Well if I see her again, I'll let her know you're still thinking about her." He went out the door and left.

XXX

Akuha opened her eyes and let her vision adjust. She wiped her mouth as she stood up, noticing she had drooled a little in her sleep. She glanced at the clock. "Nine in the morning…" It took her a moment to get past the drowsiness. "Just great…" she murmured spitefully, "all this wasted time." She noted the empty bed. "Where did Ts-"

"Tsukune!" yelled a voice from outside.

Akuha peeked out the window, noticing Kurumu suffocating Tsukune with her breasts below.

"Tsukune, you're awake!" The succubus pressed herself against Tsukune's face harder. "I was so scared! I thought you'd never wake up!" She moved back and looked at him. "You _are_ okay, right?"

"I'm fine, Kurumu." Tsukune breathed hard for air. "How long was I out?"

"You were knocked out at exactly four o'clock yesterday." Kurumu looked up at the window of the room Tsukune had been in. "Akuha decided to stay with you until you woke up." Her tone dropped. "She was the only one of us that wasn't busy after all…"

"She was watching me all that time?"

Kurumu kept her eyes fixed on the now-open window. "She's watching you right now."

Akuha jumped out, flipped twice, and landed in front of them. "Tsukune," she began, "when you stopped breathing I feared the worst."

"No need to be afraid at all." Tsukune said with optimism, "I even feel good enough to go back to training."

Akuha looked unconvinced. "Are you… sure? I'm all for progress, but I don't want to get you killed or crippled for life."

"Of course I'm sure. I know what I signed up for." Tsukune motioned towards the forest. "We've already lost enough valuable time as it is, right?"

XXX

**Grassy Plain**

By the time they reached their training grounds Tsukune seemed very eager to spar. He was always this determined when Moka was involved. "So, what are you going to have me practice?" he asked.

"Umm… faints and counters." Akuha said curiously. They were practicing them before she knocked him out. "Let's just focus on counters for now."

"Okay." Tsukune took a fighting stance. "What's the first thing I should know?"

"First?" They got _way_ past the 'first thing' yesterday morning. "Let's see, how did I explain it before?" She taught him most everything through demonstrations. "How about I just show you?"

"Alright." Tsukune casually said as he readied himself.

"Ahem." Kurumu muttered from the hill, folding her arms.

Akuha nodded to her, reassuring she would be careful this time. "Okay Tsuk," she said to her student, "I want you to attack me." She took a stance. "You see, one way to counter is to use your opponent's-" Tsukune suddenly punched at her much faster than she expected. She hurriedly dodged, tripped him, and then threw him using his own momentum.

"Ouch…" Tsukune lay on his back. "I think I get this one. Turn your dodge into an attack, right?" He stood up, noting pain in his back.

"Damn it…" Akuha tried to get a hold of herself. "It's hard for me to hold back sometimes."

"Yeah but… haven't you toyed with your opponents before?"

Akuha shrugged. Whenever she wanted an easy fight to last longer, she just avoided physical contact. This was different.

Kurumu watched with a panicked look as Akuha and Tsukune began sparring again.

Akuha cringed as she instinctively shoved her knee at Tsukune's face, barley stopping herself in time. In any real fight, holding back for even a moment would get her killed. Having lived most of her life like this made it a little difficult to not get carried away.

In retaliation for their mock-fight, Tsukune punched straight at Akuha. Due to the endless hours, days, and sleepless nights she had spent rehearsing counters, her body practically responded to his attack as if on autopilot, using the force of the punch against him to perform an oddly familiar counterattack.

"You said you were going to be careful!" Kurumu shouted, "It hasn't even been one minute!"

"Where have I seen this move before?" Tsukune thought.

Akuha couldn't help but think of when she used to duel Moka for fun seven years ago, 129 duels to be exact. Somehow she never had a problem with holding back against her… just her. Why? She looked hard at Tsukune as her elbow flew towards his forehead. "Get over it Akuha!" she thought to herself, "You can hold back just the same for him! He's not your enemy, and not just your comrade or student. What is he to you? Well it's pretty obvious what he isn't."

Kurumu covered her mouth, about to squeal at what she expected.

Tsukune froze in place, noticing Akuha's elbow had stopped an inch from his head, and just blinked. "Dang!" he said with enthusiasm, "That was fast! I didn't even see it coming."

Akuha looked surprised that she didn't knock him out again. "Erm… uh…" She hopped back and made a stance. "In that case, keep an eye on my shoulders. You can predict my attacks much easier that way."

Kurumu let out a huge sigh of relief.

Tsukune smiled. "Akuha." he suddenly said.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you… for everything." Tsukune spoke with compassion.

"What? Where is this coming from?"

"I don't have much of a talent for fighting, but you still haven't given up on me." Tsukune looked down at his closed fist. "You've helped me get stronger, so that I can protect the ones important to me."

Akuha frowned. Tsukune probably had someone else in mind. "You're thinking about Moka again aren't you?" she said, "No one else, just her."

Tsukune shook his head. "That's not true, Akuha. You're very important to me too."

"Tsuk… that's… "Akuha felt herself daydream. Maybe she- "_Dah_!" she felt herself getting punched in the nose.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Tsukune backed off. "I didn't think I'd actually be able to hit you!"

Akuha covered her bleeding nose with both hands. "It's okay." She outstretched her right hand, motioning that it wasn't a big deal. "I was the one that said to never drop your guard…"

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**Originally, each side character was supposed to get their own chapter for the duration of Tsukune's training-arc. One for Kurumu, one for Mizore, one for Yukari, one for Ruby, one for Fan Fan, and one for Kokoa. This would've dragged on for too long, so I ended up shortening and combining most of them. As stated before, some were dropped, such as weapon training with Kokoa's bat.**


	4. Chpt 4: The Land of Promise

**This came up in 'Assassin':**

**A disadvantage OCs have is that they aren't as easy to visualize as familiar canon characters. To compensate, I occasionally post an image of what they're supposed to look like on my profile page. I obviously didn't make any of these images myself, and they are often borrowed from other franchises. Every OC I've had so far has made or is a reference to something that I like, and I don't plan to stop doing this. I'd prefer to celebrate the low restraint in fanfiction writing.**

**Consider the above paragraph a pointless disclaimer, because someone would whine in the review section otherwise. Don't be that person.**

**Most everyone inserts people and places they've seen before, be they real or fictional, to picture what's happening when they read a story anyways.**

* * *

**Yōkai Academy**

Fan Fan walked through the woods merrily, humming to himself while his sister stayed silent. "Hmm, how shall we get them to join our family today?" It was still early in the morning, and they had just finished breakfast.

"That couple has quite the taste for battle." Ling Ling said as she floated along, "It's to be expected of vampires of course. Perhaps _I_ could challenge one of them to a duel this time." They reached the open, grassy field. Neither Akuha nor Tsukune seemed to be there.

"Huh? They're gone?"

Only Ginei stood in the field, apparently packing up the equipment Akuha and Tsukune had left behind. "Oh, hey there." He waved. "If you're looking for 'cranky' and my love-rival, they left about two hours ago."

Fan Fan looked disappointed. "Eh… where'd they run off to?"

Ginei scratched his head and stared at the clouds above him. "I wasn't really listening. I think they were going to talk to my ex-girlfriend so they can rescue my former crush."

Fan Fan and Ling Ling looked at each other. "They couldn't have gone far, right?" Fan Fan said.

"Hehe…" Ginei grinned, "you have no idea…"

Fan Fan folded his arms calmly. "It makes no difference." He pulled out a charm. "We were prepared to follow them to the ends of the Earth if we needed to."

XXX

**India – West Coastline**

Akuha and Tsukune appeared on a tall, grassy cliffside facing the Indian Ocean. The sky was a brilliant orange and the soothing sound of waves was heard all around. From here the large urban city of Mumbai could be seen far to the north.

"Are we headed there?" Tsukune asked. He knew Mumbai had the largest population in India.

"That's a human city, Tsuk." Akuha stared out into the vast ocean. "Besides, the city we're going to is _much_, _much_ bigger."

Bigger? Tsukune couldn't help be feel excited, but he decided to keep his mouth shut and eyes open until he actually saw it. He followed Akuha as they walked along the cliffside, moving south, _away_ from the human city. They had used one of the Headmaster's teleport-nodes to get here in a heartbeat, but now where were they going?

Eventually they reached a pillar with runes carved all over it. Tsukune felt as if he was walking through a thin lair of jello as they passed by it. "I know a barrier when I feel one." Tsukune said, "We just walked through one."

"We're entering a spot where yōkai often gather." Akuha told him, "That barrier just keeps humans from seeing anyone inside it."

Tsukune noticed a large crowd of people straight ahead. He didn't remember seeing them before passing through the barrier.

Akuha suddenly pulled up the hood for her attire, a look that Tsukune had never see her use before. The hood casted a dark shadow over her face, hiding everything but her lips.

"Umm… should I hide my face too, Akuha?" Tsukune asked her.

"No, you'll be fine." Akuha whispered, "Just promise me this. You will _never_ use my name while I have my hood up. Got it?"

Tsukune looked at her curiously. Why would she ask him of this? "Sure, no problem." The two of them walked into the crowd, finding themselves among all sorts of yōkai. Tsukune even recognized some; lizardmen, trolls, centaurs. There were however many creatures he had never seen before, such as the two giant humanoids with elephant heads, and the herd of jackal-like creatures that resembled Anubis.

"This way." Akuha whispered. They came in front of what looked like a small hut with a _huge_ door, big enough to fit one of those elephant-men.

A slim young girl wearing a pink tram-conductor uniform and a skirt stood in front of the door, writing on a clipboard she held. She had straight brown hair, a conductor hat resting between two fox-like ears, and a cluster of nine brown foxtails each with a splash of white at the end. The repetitiveness of her job seemed to putting her in a dull mood.

"Is that a Youko?" Tsukune quietly asked.

"A much weaker relative." Akuha said.

The girl kept her eyes on the clipboard. "The tram gets back in five minutes." she said, "I'll need some identification before you-"

"That won't be necessary."

The girl gasped at the sound of Akuha's voice. "You!" she kept her voice down, "But you said you would never come back…" She didn't seem happy to see Akuha. If anything, she seemed scared.

"I need to get into the city," Akuha eyed the clipboard, "and without anyone knowing."

The fox-girl looked hesitant to say anything. "But… I can't let you do that. If anyone-"

"I'm getting on the tram one way or another," Akuha's tone darkened, "and we both know what would happen if the city knew I was here."

The fox-girl bit her lip.

"C'mon Ar'rie, you owe me!"

"Al… alright, but just this once." The girl, apparently named Ar'rie, scribbled out the last thing she wrote on the clipboard. She looked at Tsukune, whom seemed _much_ friendlier. "Is this your client? Partner?" She smirked, though still nervously. "_Boyfriend_?"

Akuha remained silent below that hood. She couldn't think of how to respond. "We're not… he's not my…"

The two massive doors suddenly opened. No more than five people walked out. Apparently there weren't many leaving the city. Behind them crawled out a _dragon_ that barley fit through the doors.

Tsukune leapt back. "Woah! _Holy crap_!"

The dragon took notice to Tsukune's reaction. "What's your problem, human?" it spat in a deep, booming voice, "Have you not seen a Dovah before?" It continued on, shaking the ground as it went.

Tsukune gulped. He didn't know what gave him away, but that winged monstrosity somehow knew he was human. He braced himself for a fight, but no one in the crowds around him seemed to be bothered. Maybe one or two gave him a rude look, but that was it.

"There's a minority of humans in the city," Akuha whispered, "not that they're anymore appreciated here."

Tsukune recalled that being human carried a death-sentence back in Yōkai Academy. "I'm liking this city already."

"Make no mistake, I'd still stay out of dark alleys if I were you."

After the crowd had given the dragon _a lot_ of extra space, they began flooding through the large doorway, Akuha and Tsukune with them. Though the hut wasn't much larger than the doorway itself, it lead into a concrete room as tall and wide as a school gym, extending forward like a tunnel for what seemed like forever.

"Woah." Tsukune took in his surroundings. "I'll bet they used some kind of spell to fit all this in here."

"We're not inside the hut." Akuha told him, "That doorway was a warp-gate. This room is a hundred feet directly _below_ the hut."

Tsukune briefly looked behind him. Outside the door was still the grassy cliffside. He glanced at the small 'windows' along the tunnel, which seemed more like jiggling bubble-like force fields. Apparently this tunnel was inside an underwater cave under the cliffside, but what fascinated him the most was what was in the tunnel. Facing him was the backside of a two-story white tram. Just this one tramcar was bigger than most houses he'd seen, and the whole thing had to be at least a quarter-mile long. None of it was connected to any rails or lines. It just floated an inch above the ground on its own. "So this tram is what takes people in and out of the city."

"It's one among thousands of others."

Ar'rie motioned them to follow. "C'mon, this way."

The back tramcars were filling up fast as they moved along. A few of the middle cars didn't seem to be split into two separate floors, probably to house creatures like the elephant-men or a dragon. Eventually, the three of them stopped along the furthest passenger car, as it was the least crowded one.

The interior of the tramcar looked quite remarkable. It was well lit, the seats were exceptionally well cushioned, and the clean windows gave a good view of the outside. There was even a short stairway in the corner that led to the floor above.

Tsukune sat close to the window, looking outside it for when they would start moving. Akuha quietly sat next to him with her head down. She looked kind of creepy hunched over with that hood on. Ar'rie, for some reason, just stood in the walkway.

"Aren't you gonna' take a seat?" Tsukune asked the fox-girl.

"What for?"

The automated doors slid shut and the tram immediately shot forward like a bullet. In spite of the vast acceleration, neither Tsukune nor anyone else seemed to feel a thing. The tram passed through a large bubble force field and rocketed through the water like a lightning-fast eel.

Tsukune stared down at the ocean floor as they zipped over it. "Dang, this thing can move fast."

"At top speed it can go about 2,000 miles an hour." Ar'rie said, "It's protected by magic of course."

Tsukune realized Ar'rie was staring at him, smiling. "Umm, does your kind eat humans or something?"

"No silly." Ar'rie leaned forward. "I just think you're kind of cute. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Akuha groaned. Tsukune had enough girls after him already. "Back off."

Ar'rie studied them for a moment. "So you _are_ dating?"

For the next twenty minutes they flew over the ocean floor, occasionally passing over a bottomless trench. They were incredibly deep underwater now.

"Wait, I think I see something." Tsukune started to see lights in the distance. Even at the speed the tram was going, they didn't seem to be getting closer. It must have been _very_ far away… and massive.

The intercom beeped twice and a man's voice was heard. "We are now approaching our destination. Thank you for using Hamadryad Transportations. We hope you had a pleasant ride." The intercom beeped off. The tram slowed down as it flew over a ridge, and a colossal underwater city came into view.

(_Look at my profile page and check the picture posted for '__Clíodhna__', because that view is basically what we're looking at. Trust me, you want to see it._)

Tsukune's eyes widened. "Oh… my… god…" It was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen. Large networks of glass tunnels bigger than cruise ships webbed and ran under the ocean floor. Connected by the tunnels were giant cone-like structures that stood taller than skyscrapers, though one greatly dwarfed all the others. There were crevices and trenches cutting through some parts of the city, though there seemed to be structures on the cliff walls too. The city stretched on further than Tsukune could see.

Though Tsukune was fascinated by the city, Akuha couldn't stand to look at it. She just kept her eyes on the floor.

"I can't imagine what it took to build all this." Tsukune said with his hands and face against the glass.

Ar'rie came up next to him, also gazing at the city. "The city was founded in 1639. They kept water out with magical barriers back then."

The tram curved towards one of the buildings at the foot of the crevice and decelerated, slowly slipping through the middle of another bubble barrier. This force field however had as much surface area as four football fields. They finally came to a stop between two floating platforms inside the tram station. Above, below, and all around them were hundreds of other railed platforms with more trams picking up and dropping people off. The tramcar doors slid open and Tsukune was the first to hurry out.

"You gotta' love the expression they make," Ar'rie said to Akuha, "when seeing this city for the first time."

Tsukune looked in every direction as fast as he could, trying to take in every detail. He seemed very energetic and lively. "I can't say I'm not impressed." He noticed a huge white text on the wall opposite of the reception area, reading 'Station 37'. "There are… _how_ many more stations like this?"

"There are fifty-two in total." Ar'rie winked, "This is one of the smaller ones."

Droves of people began to make their way towards the reception area, each group being led by an employee from their respective tramcar. Light that shined like gold illuminated the large concrete room that awaited them. This was typical for the city. The 'outside' areas had an ocean-blue atmosphere while building interiors were always lit with the color gold.

XXX

Ar'rie stepped out from one of the many buildings along the tunnel sides. "Welcome to Clíodhna!" she shouted with open arms, "Named after the Banshee Queen, the wife of the city's founder."

Tsukune came to a full stop in silent awe at what he saw. Straight in front of them was a four-way tunnel intersection serving as a plaza for this part of the city. In its center was a fountain the size of a lake with renaissance style statues all over it. The flooring was entirely polished marble. The clear glass tunnels stood a mile high and half a mile wide. Crowds of people were walking around like this was an oversized shopping mall. The city's appearance was utterly overwhelming. "Is there anything in this city that's _not_ ridiculously fancy?"

Ar'rie shrugged. "Not much."

"This isn't at all what I expected, when I heard this was underwater." Tsukune gave an impressed nod. "They can certainly fit a lot down here."

"And that's been shown." Akuha said, still staring at the floor with her hood up. "There have actually been a couple wars fought in this city."

"Wars?" Tsukune sounded flabbergasted, "_Down here_?" He watched a fleet of dragons fly high above them, close to the tunnel ceiling. "No kidding…"

Ar'rie leaned over to Akuha and whispered to her. "We're even now. I'm not doing this for you again."

Akuha took a deep breath. "Regardless… thanks."

Ar'rie turned and went back into the tram station. At first she was planning to tell the authorities about Akuha behind her back anyways, but… "That boy seemed very nice." She forgot about her encounter and went back to work like nothing happened.

XXX

Tsukune and Akuha strode side-by-side across marble flooring. From here they had a perfect view of the beautiful coral reef and the schools of fish that swam over them. Many 'ohs' and 'ahs' were heard as a blue whale swam right over the tunnel.

Tsukune had a bright smile on as he looked above. "Kyouko enjoyed watching orcas and dolphins when we were little. She would have loved to see this." He cracked up. "Well, supernatural stuff aside."

Akuha however was looking through the glass wall to the left, her eyes fixed on one of the underwater towers. "Tsuk, do you see that tower over there?"

Tsukune turned and looked as they walked. Above the stores, restaurants, and hotels a third-way up the glass wall, he could see an enormous cone-like tower in the distance with lights all over it. In fact, it was the same 'largest tower' he had seen just before docking. "Yes, I was wondering what those buildings were."

"That estate is where Moka will be in a few hours."

Tsukune stared at the tower blankly. "Wait a second… that thing is a _house_?" he shouted, "That's a lot of extra space!"

"In Clíodhna, everything is big and fancy." Akuha said, "But anyways, before we head there we're going to check in with a friend of mine. I did him a few favors years ago. We can trust him."

Tsukune gave a gratifying nod. "Sounds like you helped a lot of people in this city."

Akuha frowned under the shadow of her hood. "Yeah…" she said, sounding as if she were ashamed. "Right…"

They continued to walk through the densely crowded tunnel. Despite all the people, every square inch of it was remarkably clean. Something about this city just made Tsukune forget about all his worries. He still kept Moka in mind of course, but he couldn't help but keep a smile on. "Akuha, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Those fake identities Ruby made for us." Tsukune said, "They were accepted at the station no problem. Why are you still hiding your face?"

"Umm, well…" Akuha considered telling him what she'd done here four years ago. "You see I…" she paused, "haven't aged at all since my last visit. People would recognize me." True, but it wasn't particularly why.

"But your last visit was years ago, right?" Tsukune looked at her curiously. "You think some joe is going to pick you out of a huge crowd in such a big city?"

"Just… being careful."

XXX

Though they had started from the nearest tram station to Akuha's 'friends place', their destination was still a _long_ walk away. It was to be expected of a city that spanned roughly 50,000 square miles, but they really didn't have the time to walk the whole way. Therefore, as a 'training exercise', they ventured through one of the highway tunnels where cars moved everywhere instead of pedestrians. Tsukune was told to 'keep up' with his instructor, and they ran through the bike lane faster than the eye could see. By the time Tsukune was about to drop dead, they finally re-entered a residential tunnel, stopping before a fenced entrance to one of those giant towers.

Akuha pulled out a pocket watch and opened it. "Twenty-five minutes." She put it away. "Not bad."

Tsukune was bent over, panting, and dripping with sweat. "Not a bad morning exercise at all." He looked up at what lay before them. The entrance was like the gate to a fortress, no guards, but the walls were tall and made of thick stone. The tower stood over ten times the height of the many glass tunnels that led into its base, included the one they stood in.

"That's the second largest one in the city, dwarfed only by the one we're headed to later." Akuha checked around. This part of the city was nearly empty of people walking around.

"Is this a military base for those 'wars' you mentioned?"

"The last conflict was over one hundred years ago." Akuha started towards the gate. "It was once used as one, though."

Two humanoid animal-like guards stood at the gateway, one a cow, the other a chicken. "That's as far as you go, hoodie." The chicken said calmly.

Akuha stopped with Tsukune just behind her. "I need to see him. It's important."

"Is he expecting you?"

"No." Akuha took off her hood, showing her face. "Just let him know it's me. I'll wait."

The cow and the chicken each gasped. "I… I don't think that's necessary…" The cow said in a squeaky tone. It was unclear if that was her normal voice. "You can head right in. I'll radio ahead to let him know you're coming." She began to unlock the gate.

The chicken looked at his partner. "Don't be st_**u**_pid. We can't just let someone walk in."

"We couldn't stop her last time." The cow said, "If she was going to kick down the front door again, she'd have done it by now."

Tsukune looked from Akuha to the guards. He dwelled on the word 'again'. The gate opened and the two of them approached the cathedral-like double doors as they were opened. The entrance hall they came into was, unsurprisingly, lavish and remarkable. Before them was a long red carpet with guards standing along both sides, akin to something you'd see in a king's castle. Down the hallway, a ten-foot armored ape-like being strode toward them. Armed guards saluted as he passed.

(_Check my profile page again and check the picture posted for 'Rukt'. Yeah, this pop-culture reference is pretty obvious.)_

Akuha and Tsukune stood side-by-side, looking down the hall. "Tsuk," Akuha whispered into Tsukune's ear. "Remember that picnic? I mentioned a 'dumb ape' that beat me years ago."

Tsukune suddenly looked quite frightened. "That's him?" He had to admit this guy looked scary. His armor was blends of tan and unpainted metal. On his back was a large mallet with electricity radiating from the hammerhead. He had a beard growing from his chin and his eyes glowed an ominous orange. He and Akuha stared each other in the eye, never blinking.

(_Imagine this guy's voice sounds like Wrex from Mass Effect_.)

"Hmp," The gorilla-man finally spoke. "Someone's got a lot of nerve showing her face around here." He came to a stop before them.

Tsukune noted Akuha's tense look and gulped.

The gorilla-man took another step forward, then suddenly picked Akuha off the ground with an ecstatic hug. "Akuha!" he roared joyfully, "Glad to see you haven't gone off and died yet!"

Akuha cringed, looking like her back was getting crushed. "G- good to see you too, Rukt." she choked out.

Tsukune watched them, dumbfounded. "Wha… what?"

Rukt rubbed his closed fist onto the top of Akuha's head, giving her the hardest nuggie she ever dreamed of. "Hard to believe it's been four years." His fist was more than twice the size of her head. "You don't seem to have grown at all." He put her down.

"I get that a lot." Akuha rubbed her back, mouthing the word 'ouch'. "I see eight-hundred years still hasn't slowed you down."

"Not in the slightest," Rukt made a toothed smile, "but I doubt you've come all this way for small-talk."

Akuha nodded. "I need help and a place to stay. I don't know how long we'll be here."

"Alright, but let's get the master of the house before we speak any further."

"Of course." Akuha began to walk forward until Tsukune grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait," Tsukune whispered in her ear, "This guy is seriously that 'friend' you mentioned?"

Akuha shrugged. "Yes."

"But you two were once enemies, right?"

"He was also my Muay Thai teacher." Akuha walked by Rukt. Tsukune however just stood where he was, staring at Rukt warily.

Rukt frowned. "Is there something in my teeth?"

Tsukune wasn't sure what to think about Rukt. Whatever he had 'beaten' Akuha in, it probably wasn't a sparring match.

"Hey, I don't feel the same way… about you…"

The guards at the even implied that Akuha had broken in here before, but if that was the case, why was she given such a warm welcome?

Rukt was getting tired of Tsukune staring at him. "Look, I'm not going to kiss you in front of all my men."

Tsukune finally snapped out of it. "S- sorry!" He ran by Rukt.

Akuha was whispering to herself. "Always swimming in that pool in the East Wing…"

Tsukune caught up to her. "So ah…" He pointed over his shoulder at Rukt. "I thought Donkey Kong back there was the one running things."

"He is." Akuha said, "He's in charge of the private army, the businesses, everything. He just isn't the leader in name." They continued to walk through the majestic hallways until they came upon a steel double door, as opposed to another fine wooden one. "You head on in." Akuha leaned against the wall next to the door. "I'll just wait here."

"Why? Is there something bad in there?"

"A swimming pool."

Tsukune grinned. He remembered Moka shying away from a swimming pool back when he first met her. "Alight, fair enough." He opened the door and closed it behind him, careful not to trip on the slippery concrete floor. The pool seemed larger than a football-field. The waters were calm and there didn't seem to be anyone here. "Hello?" His voice echoed. No one answered, but a few splashes and wave motions suggested that something was swimming towards him. He crouched at the foot of the pool. At this point, he was expecting a one thousand headed penguin, and he hadn't even been in the city for an hour yet.

A friendly-looking dolphin suddenly peeked its head out of the water a few feet away. It chirped at him.

"Umm…" Something so ordinary was the last thing Tsukune pictured the 'master of the house' to look like. "Hi?" he said, expecting the dolphin to talk.

The dolphin retreated back underwater. A moment later, a girl surfaced in its place. She looked to be about 17. She had long blond hair and blue eyes. Tsukune would've found her to be pretty if he wasn't so damned used to meeting girls like this. "It appears I have a guest." The girl spoke in a thick Russian accent. "Don't tell me you're another suitor."

**Bite-sized Monster Dictionary**: Encantado, Portuguese for 'enchanted ones', are a race of water-dwelling yōkai usually found in Brazil's Amazon River and Russia's Lake Ladoga. They take the form of a dolphin while in water, but spend much of their time on land in their human form. Using their charms and good looks, they allure unsuspecting beings of other races, usually humans, and steal their souls. While considered the most fatal and dangerous type of seductive-yōkai, they have a fascination for parties, music, and dance.

Tsukune snickered. "No, a friend and I just need your help with something."

The girl literally leapt out of the water and onto the floor next to Tsukune. "I suppose I've spent enough time in the pool." She grabbed a towel from a folding chair and wrapped herself with it. "I'll admit…" She inspected him closely. "You're much cuter than any of my suitors."

Tsukune shook his head. "I swear, every girl I meet…"

Akuha waited patiently in the hallway, overhearing them a little. She was too busy remembering the time she had slipped and fell into that pool to make out what they were saying.

The door opened at the sound of the girl's voice. "Is that the honest truth? I mean, the last boy that stopped by-" She made a joyous gasp at the sight of her second guest. "Akuha Shuzen!"

Akuha moved from the wall and gave a modest shrug. "Viktoriya Trofimov." She noticed the blond girl to be an inch or two taller. "You just a little kid last time I saw you."

"And now I'm just a kid." Viktoriya looked down at herself. A towel was all she was wearing. "I'll… get myself dressed."

Akuha and Tsukune watched as Viktoriya hurried down the hall. "She used to be no bigger than Yukari." Akuha said, "Normally I don't like kids, but she often brought out the inner-child in me."

"It sounds like you get along."

"I saved her life once. 'Getting along' came naturally."

"That's probably for the best. She's rich and powerful."

"She's also young and inexperienced. It's why Rukt runs everything for her."

Tsukune nodded. Things were making sense to him now. "Just one question though. How did she come by…" He motioned his arms at the hallways around them. "All of this?"

"It belonged to her parents. They died and she was their only child."

"What happened to them?"

"She and the public believe they each died of illnesses." Akuha paused and took a deep breath. "Only me and Rukt know the truth."

"The truth?"

Any traces of a smile faded from Akuha's face. "They were murdered…" she told him, "by an assassin."

Tsukune stared at vampire for a long while. "Akuha?" His eyes widened. "You didn't…"

"Do _not_ speak of this to anyone. There's a good reason why she doesn't know."

XXX

**Manor Living Room**

The room was ridiculously well-furnished, as expected of a teenager that basically owned half the city. All sorts of fish swam in a large water tank that made a whole wall of the room. They were colorful, elegant, and graceful, but more than half of them weren't anything Tsukune recognized. Yōkai fish maybe? Whatever the case, if Akuha was a 'dog person' and Talia a 'cat person', then Viktoriya was definitely the fish type.

"Why fish?" Tsukune asked, staring into the tank, "They don't do much."

"You mean, 'why not some other pet'?" Viktoriya stood next to him, watching the fish as well. She had clothes on now. Heels, thigh-high black stockings, a frilled skirt, and what seemed like some kind of girl's business suit. The outfit seemed strange to Tsukune, but he had seen others like it while roaming the city earlier. Clíodhna seemed to have a unique cloth style of its own. "I don't know. Maybe it's because they don't wander far."

(_Again, look at my profile page and check the picture posted for 'Viktoriya'. She's wearing that same outfit here.)_

"You like them because they'll always be there?"

Viktoriya looked at him and smiled. "And you'll always know where to find them."

Tsukune smiled back, though not romantically as she was. "You're not what I expected of a teenaged multi-billionaire, Viktoriya."

"Please, call me Vicky. Everyone does."

While Tsukune and Vicky made friendly conversation, Akuha and Rukt interacted more professionally. They sat at opposite ends of a table, Akuha on a bar stool and Rukt in a huge armchair his size.

"Here." Akuha slid a crumpled paper across the table. "I don't even need to ask if Vicky was sent one of these."

Rukt unfolded the paper, revealing it to be an invitation. "We both know how interested he is in her."

"In everything she owns, anyways."

Rukt inspected the paper. "Yes, we received one and I hid it from Vicky like I always do." He dropped it back onto the table. "How did you get this though? It's obvious he didn't just give it to you."

"You could say I got it from someone else." Akuha said, "I need to infiltrate this party. I was thinking Tsukune and I could pose as…" She took a long look at Viktoriya. There was no way they'd pass even as distant relatives. "Vicky's business associates?"

Rukt's stare darkened. "You know full well why we shouldn't let her anywhere near him, even if she doesn't know it herself."

"Just make this one exception, Rukt." Akuha's somber look sank to a dismayed one. "Please. My sister has been kidnapped and this is my only lead."

Rukt looked over at Tsukune and Viktoriya as they laughed together. "If it's for a good cause, I'll help any way I can."

Akuha made a grateful smile.

Rukt stood up. "Vicky." he called, "We received an invitation to a party last night." He approached her.

Tsukune backed away to let them talk. He quickly moved over to Akuha and whispered in her ear. "Is there something you forget to mention?"

"What?"

"You trained me to use super-sensitive hearing better. I heard everything."

"Nice." Akuha grinned. "Yeah, our soon-to-be host is sending flowers and love letters to Vicky all the time. We make sure she sees none of it."

"It sounds like he loves her." Tsukune crossed his arms. "Who are you to get in the way of that?"

"He doesn't love her."

"And how would you know that?"

"He was the one that hired me to kill her parents."

Tsukune just stared blankly. "Oh… okay then."

"He owns half the city. The Trofimovs own the other half. Marrying their daughter after she inherits everything would put all of Clíodhna in his pocket."

Tsukune didn't seem amused. "What else have you not been telling me?"

"Well I-"

"Tonight?" Vicky said to Rukt loudly, "I'd love to go. Better than balancing more books on my head while walking."

"Me and Tsukune are coming with you," Akuha said to Vicky, "under cover of course."

Vicky began towards them from across the room. "It's to do with another one of your 'jobs', obviously."

"It doesn't involving killing anyone-"

Vicky raised a hand. "You don't need to explain yourself to me." She stopped in front where Akuha sat. "I trust you."

Akuha looked away. "_I_ wouldn't trust me." she whispered.

"C'mon." Vicky motioned towards the door way. "I still have those dresses I bought for you four years ago, and I just _know_ they still fit."

XXX

**Dressing Room**

Akuha looked through a wide open closet, going over dress after dress. They all greatly differed from each other in style and roots, but were all the color black as Akuha preferred them. "Hmp, this takes me back." she laughed. She remembered not being able to decide on anything for a dress other than it having to be black, so Vicky just bought one of everything.

"Look on the bright side." Vicky said beside her, "No one would recognize you in any of these."

"Where's the Chinese one?"

"That's the _only one_ you'd be recognized in." Vicky made an 'oh well' shrug and fetched it anyways. "Here you go." She brought out a black and gold cheongsam from the cluttered closet. It was extraordinarily well-sewed with illustrations of gold flowers from top to bottom.

Akuha grasped the dress by the neck piece. She frowned suddenly. "Vicky, how's life been for you in the last four years?"

Viktoriya raised an eyebrow. "That's an odd question. Why do you ask?"

"Well… you've had to grow up without your mom or dad."

"Yeah, I miss them and I've got a lot to live up to, but I know there's a great deal of people out there that would love to switch places with me."

Akuha started toward the fitting room. "Your parents left a lot behind for you."

Viktoriya made a grim look. "They left behind a little too much." she said plainly, "I'm not even sure I know what it feels like to get something I worked for. Everything is always handed to me, and I'm not proud of it."

Akuha closed the fitting room door behind her.

Vicky stared up at the ceiling, half daydreaming. "No matter how good your life is, you can always find something to complain about…"

Akuha came out wearing the Chinese dress, her old outfit lay folded on a seat. "Done."

"Those combat boots have got to go."

Akuha made an unpleasant look. "I am _not_ wearing heels."

"Slippers it is then." Vicky reached into a drawer next to her. "And for the finishing touch…" She pulled out what appeared to be a plain choker.

Akuha sighed, but saw the necessity in it. It wasn't like she could wear a hood to the party. "Fine…" She undid her pigtails. Vicky carefully placed the choker around her neck. After a few moments, her hair suddenly grew longer until it stopped below her waist.

"Well, well." Viktoriya inspected her. "You look like a completely different person now."

Akuha looked at herself in an oval standing mirror. Her hair was so messy, it looked like she had awakened from a year-long slumber.

"This simply won't do." Vicky brought up a hairbrush.

XXX

Tsukune waited outside the doorway. Those girls were certainly taking their time to get dressed, but that's normal right? Then again, Akuha's never been the shopping/dress-up type.

To pass the time, Tsukune asked some guards and servants that passed by about the nature of their employment. Contrary to what he expected, there was no serf or noble system in this city. Viktoriya was just very rich, being the owner of companies that kept half the city going of course.

A short while later, the door finally opened and a girl walked out. "What do you think?"

Tsukune recognized the voice, but not the girl. "Akuha?" His eyes lit up in delight when he saw her.

Akuha smiled and posed, legitimately trying to impress him. The dress she wore was gorgeous. Her hair was now long and perfectly straight. She looked almost like Inner Moka if she had black hair and smaller breasts.

Tsukune suddenly frowned. She looked a little _too_ much like Moka.

Akuha eyed him curiously. "Tsukune? What's the matter?"

Tsukune kept his eyes on the wall. He couldn't bare to look at her. The resemblance was just uncanny. "Looks good on you." he said.

Akuha looked frustrated. Their little 'moment' had completely lost all feeling. "Well… get dressed into something nicer and meet me in the entrance hall."

"We're going somewhere?"

"The party is later in the evening and it's barley noon now. I thought we could use this time to take a little walk around the city."

"Hmp." Tsukune had to admit, he wanted to see more of the city while they were here. Besides, knowing Akuha their 'little walk' would probably just be more planning and preparation anyways. "Alright."

Viktoriya came out the door next to them, now wearing a ocean blue evening gown. She stood next to Akuha. "You like what you see?" she said to Tsukune.

Both girls looked good in those dresses, but Tsukune had too much on his mind to smile. He wished Moka were here, it would've been nice to see her in one of these fine dresses too.

Vicky noted Tsukune's empty gaze. "Wow, you're hard to impress." She turned her attention back to Akuha. "Anyways, assuming you want to skip makeup, you're still gonna need something like jewelry if you want to pass as an aristocrat. A necklace maybe?"

"_No_!" Akuha said quickly, "Actually… I guess some earrings or a bracelet couldn't hurt."

"Alrighty." Vicky pointed at the ceiling without looking. "All jewelry is kept a few floors above us though." She turned around and started down the hallway. "To the stairs we go…"

Akuha gave Tsukune one last look. "See you later." She followed Vicky.

Tsukune faced their direction, but was practically looking through them. If not for this 'Fairy Tale stuff', he could've enjoyed touring this beautiful city with _all_ his friends.

Rukt came up behind Tsukune. "The most mysterious creatures in the world, aren't they?"

Tsukune turned around. "Vampires? Whatever Vicky is?"

"Women."

Tsukune chucked.

"You can be the dumbest piece of crap in the world and still get some girl somewhere to like you, just as long as you show her you really care."

"Are you saying that out of experience?"

Rukt shrugged casually. "I never cared about romance much, but the business is just important to some women." He grinned, showing his big fanged teeth. "Some women will even _kill you_ if you don't remember this, and yes, that too is from experience."

Tsukune felt a little better now. Laughter was a good remedy for his occasional unease. His attention suddenly turned to his shirt and jeans. Street clothes definitely weren't 'blue blood' material. "So…" he said, "you got a suit I could borrow?"

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**While most original content is based off of other things I like, Clíodhna is by no means based off of Rapture from Bioshock. There have been lots of underwater cities in fiction and Rapture was by no means the first. I just thought to myself: "_Shouldn't yōkai have their own major cities?_" Naturally, they would probably be hidden from humans similar to the Floating Garden. In the sky, underground, underwater, etc.**


	5. Chpt 5: Clamor

**Clíodhna – Pedestrian Tunnel**

Two humans waited on the edge of a hotel rooftop, watching the distant sidewalk against the buildings at the other side of the tunnel. They each wore gray and military green bulky combat armor with pouches all over them and shell-like helmets that hid their faces. Their armor was disturbingly advanced, including a layer of metal fibers weaved to form a muscle structure that was barley visible in gaps between the outer plates placed over them. One of the soldiers lay on his stomach, looking through the scope of a .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle he had set up. On his shoulder was a patch that read 'Defend Burger Town'. The other soldier knelt beside him, looking through a pair of binoculars.

(_Check my profile page for the picture under 'SSE Soldier'. Yes, these are the guys mentioned back in chapter 10 of 'Assassin'._)

"It looks like the mystery girl's intel was solid." The sniper rifle soldier's voice sounded heavily modulated by his helmet. "I have a number of Fairy Tale soldiers in my sights. Coordinates zero, two, hotel, x-ray, nine, yankee, seven."

"Rodriguez." The other soldier spoke in a heavy British accent. "Look a little to the left. There's a vampire with them."

"Is that the V. I. P? Please confirm."

"That's a negative."

Rodriguez's voice tensed. "Is it _her_, Gungnir?"

Gungnir zoomed in with his binoculars and let his eyes refocus. "Blond hair, tan skin. We've got a positive I. D. on Kahlua Shuzen, considered hostile and extremely dangerous."

Rodriguez loaded a five-inch explosive silver bullet into the rifle chamber. "I'm plugging this bogy, sir."

"Belay that. There are too many civilians in the area."

Rodriguez tightened his grip on his rifle. "With respect, if we let her go, she's just going to kill more people, a lot more people than I'd hit if I missed." He took aim on Kahlua's head as she spoke to one of the Fairy Tale guards. "And I promise I wont miss!"

Gungnir put down the binoculars. "Rodriguez…" He put a hand on his subordinate's shoulder. "If this is about that kid she sliced up…"

"This is about _all_ the people she _has_ hurt, and _will_ hurt."

"Son, Fairy Tale is chock-full of scum, there's no doubt about that, but you don't need to sink down to their level."

Rodriguez watched Kahlua for a moment longer, and finally took his gaze from the scope. "Understood, sir…" He stood up and picked up his rifle.

"We'll beat 'em, Rodriguez. Just be patient."

XXX

Akuha and Tsukune walked through another densely crowded tunnel in the city. It wasn't much different from what they had seen before, a giant tunnel with smooth marble floor and buildings along both sides. This look was uniform throughout most of the city.

Akuha had on a Chinese dress, diamond earrings, a gold bracelet, and blue contact lens. A tight choker on her neck magically extended her hair down to her waist, making her hard to recognize. Tsukune wore a suit, his hair was combed, and he reluctantly put on cologne. They had to pass as aristocrats for later.

Tsukune kept his eyes fixed on the glass ceiling above them. "Are there other underwater cities like this?"

"Two." Akuha said, "Mu in the Pacific and Atlantis in the Atlantic. They're both smaller than Clíodhna."

"Exactly how big is this city?"

"Umm…" Akuha thought to herself. "I think it's about fifty-thousand square miles. There's around twenty-five-million people living here."

"Does that make this the biggest yōkai city?"

"It's the second biggest. The largest city is in east Russia, underground. That place is a dump though; garbage and rats are all over the streets."

Tsukune eyed a number of armed guards in front of another mansion gate. "What's up with these corporate armies everywhere?"

"Oh, them?" Akuha looked over at the guards as well. "Yōkai cities are more dangerous than human ones. Businesses often have to hire mercenaries or raise private armies to keep each other in check."

Tsukune turned back at Akuha. "Is that Rukt guy a mercenary? He and Vicky don't look related."

"He's not. If he cared about money he would just take it. It's not like anyone could stop him."

"How strong is he exactly?"

Akuha rubbed her chin, still feeling a punch Rukt had given her years ago. "People say he's as strong as a Dark Lord, but that's never really been tested. He _did_ learn black arts from one of them though, the art's inventor, Fuhai."

"So he's friends with them?"

"Well, you could say they go way back." Akuha shrugged, "It's said there were seven powerful individuals. They weren't equal, but were all strong nonetheless. Three of them saved the world and became known as the Dark Lords, two of them just never did anything as amazing, one of them being Rukt, and the last two have died in the last two-hundred years."

"How did Vicky get a guy like that to work for her?"

"He was a close friend to her dad. You could say he's carrying out a friend's last request."

Tsukune felt relieved to know Rukt was the 'gentle giant' type, but the presence of armed forces still bugged him. "Isn't Clíodhna's government spooked by all the power these corporations throw around?"

"There is no government down here."

"What? Then how does this city function?"

"Each region of the city is managed by the business that owns it. Civilians pay the rent, then are paid back for the work they do."

"Businesses eh?" Tsukune recalled hearing something about a founder earlier. "But it wasn't always like this, right? The city was first started by one guy."

"It was… back in 1139." Akuha snickered, "Believe it or not, his family has remained the most dominant one in the city even _today_." Her smile faded. "Well actually, his last blood-relative passed away around only seventeen years ago."

"Let me guess. Assassinated?"

"She was said to have died of childbirth, but I wouldn't doubt it. A whole third of the city was pissed at her choice in marriage."

"How come? Shouldn't who she chooses to marry be her concern?"

Akuha shook her head. "She was courted by two men, a vampire and a human." She paused. "She chose the human."

"Ah, I get it." Tsukune said, "So this human is hosting the party we're going to later."

"No, I killed that man four years ago." Akuha noticed that Tsukune was no longer beside her. She turned around and found him standing still, looking right at her.

"I guess I know why you hid your face now." Tsukune gave her a disappointed look. "How could you do such a thing?"

"You've known all along that I used to work as an assassin. Wasn't the idea that I'd killed anyone obvious?"

Tsukune just stared at her. "It's just so much easier to accept when I don't know who any of your victims were."

"Yeah… I realized that after my first kill."

XXX

**Yōkai Academy**

Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, and Ruby each sat at a picnic table in the outdoor cafeteria area. It was a nice day, but none of them were in high spirits.

"Aww…" Yukari moaned, "They're gone?"

"They left very early in the morning." Ruby told her.

"The least they could've done is say 'goodbye'." Mizore said dully, "I was wondering why I couldn't find them anywhere."

"It's not like they'll be gone forever." Kurumu said, eating a cinnamon roll, "Akuha said they'd be staying there for about three days."

"I don't see why we couldn't come." Yukari complained, "We can handle ourselves in a fight."

"All of us but you, pan-breasts." Kurumu teased, "When the academy was being attacked, all you did was chicken out."

"I heard you didn't do much better!"

"Both of you, cool it!" Ruby yelled, "The fact is that _any_ of us would just slow them down. They're up against guys that could challenge _Inner Moka_, and a lot of them at that."

"That or Akuha just wants Tsukune all to herself." Kurumu rested a cheek on her hand. "My mother's been to Clíodhna before, and oh boy, those photos she showed me of the place…"

A sinister look appeared in Mizore's shaded eyes. "If those two are goofing off right now…" She brought up an ice claw. "I'll kill Akuha when they get back."

"You? Kill Akuha?" Kurumu chuckled, "Right…" She took a sip of chocolate milk and stared off into the sky. "Let's hope Fairy Tale softens her up for you first."

XXX

**Clíodhna**

As an equivalent of a bus system, airlocks containing submarines were scattered all over the city, acting as 'submarine stops'. Akuha decided not to use them earlier due to conflicting travel schedules, but just now, she and Tsukune rode them halfway across the city.

"Whew…" Tsukune walked into another pedestrian tunnel with a hand on his head, dizzy from the ride. "Those subs move so freakin' fast!" He turned around and noticed Akuha barley able to stand. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"They're fast because people don't like to wait." Akuha walked onto the marble floor and collapsed onto all-fours. "We should've taken one of those expensive subs. You don't feel movement on those." She covered her mouth.

"On the way back, we will." Tsukune patted Akuha on the back. "If not, I'd rather walk."

After fifteen minutes of keeping their breakfasts from falling on the floor, they started moving again. To where, Tsukune didn't know. The tunnel had only hundreds of people in it opposed to the usual thousands, but a lot of noise seemed to be coming from the direction they were headed, as if millions of people were down there. Over the ambiance, Tsukune overheard 'meowing' from one of the buildings next to them.

"Huh?" Tsukune stopped beside the entrance to an alleyway. Around six cats seemed to be laying around there. "There's stray cats in this city?"

Akuha shrugged. "A whole ecosystem of them."

"What?" Tsukune cracked up at the idea. "How did that happen?"

"Eh… some crazy old lady brought two-hundred pet cats with her when she moved here fifty years ago. She died, they all got loose, then they spread all over the place. Nobody really minds them and they make good pets, so they're mostly left alone."

"What happens to their wastes?" Tsukune pointed at the hard marble floor. "I mean, there's no soil down here."

"That hasn't been a problem since litter boxes were put in every alleyway of the city."

An orange cat came out of the alleyway and approached Tsukune, meowing as if expecting food. Tsukune bent down to pet him.

Akuha watched dispassionately. "I don't really like cats. They're lazy, spoiled, and they just sit around. Dogs on the other hand are fun, loyal, and have guts."

"I like about any pet. They've got to be doing something right if people take them in." Tsukune noticed Akuha already on the move again. He stood up and hurried after her, passing by a large sign. "Eh?" He read the sign. "'Arassi'. Is that the name of the distract we're entering?"

"Yeah, Arassi is one of the older regions of the city. The least wealthy citizens live here." Akuha folded her arms and stared through the ceiling. "These parts are always quiet, except for on this exact day alone."

"Is there some kind of festival going on?" They came around a corner to be faced with a _big_ street carnival. Booths, food courts, stalls, stages, and even a Ferris wheel was set up in the dense crowds.

Akuha made a naughty smile. "You could say that."

XXX

Beside a poster stand that read 'One-man Band' stood a single guy playing eight instruments at once with a large audience gathered around him. Against his chest was a sizable kick drum with a kazoo, a harmonica, and a pocket trumpet on the top and a midi keyboard and bicycle horn on one side. A snare drum and splash cymbal was strapped to his back. He really sounded like an entire coordinated orchard.

Akuha and Tsukune gave the street performer a glance as they passed through the crowds nearby. The next crowd they walked through seemed to be spectating a pie eating contest, followed by yet another crowd watching a huge wineglass pyramid being put together. A man in a basket crane was adding the last few glasses at the top as an announcer commentated.

"He's adding the 8,990th glass!" The announcer yelled with his megaphone. "Now another one, now one more, oh he almost dropped that last glass!"

Tsukune stopped and looked up at the mound of wineglasses. The entire thing was sitting on a stage-sized low-lit spotlight, illuminating every glass above it with a golden shine. "Heh, I'll bet they do this every year."

"They do actually." Akuha said beside him.

"Re… really? I was just joking."

"It's become a tradition to make one every year, each one a level taller than last year's."

"8,997!" The announcer shouted, "8,998! 8999!" The last two glasses were both added at once. "Now there's over nine-thousaaaaaand!"

Akuha looked up and down the pyramid. From the thin top to the wide base it was nothing but glass. She looked over at Tsukune and smiled deviously. "You got a rock in your pocket?"

Tsukune nudged her shoulder. "Akuha." he smirked.

"Relax, I was just joking. Besides, building bigger and bigger wineglass pyramids is supposed to symbolize something. Not really sure what though." Akuha turned and moved towards the game booths.

Tsukune hesitated, but followed anyways. "This festival is nice and all, but should we really be spending our time here? We should be doing some last minute training."

"Whoever said we aren't?" Akuha came to a milk-bottle game booth. "How about little warm up in hand-eye coordination."

A young man wearing a cowboy hat came up to the counter. "Why hello lassie. I take it your boyfriend wants a shot at-" He motioned at all the four-foot tall stuffed animals that hung along the inner perimeter of the booth's roof. "One of these wonderful prizes?"

Tsukune spoke into Akuha's ear. "You got any money?"

"All we'll ever need." Akuha pulled out a small coin purse. "Courtesy of Viktoriya." She put a few coins on the counter.

The young man took the coins and placed three light balls in their place. "Good luck." He stepped aside revealing a row of seven separate pyramids each made of six empty milk bottles. "You only need to completely knock down one of them."

Tsukune grabbed one of the balls. "Three tries? Seems like overkill…"

Akuha snapped a finger and pointed. "Get all of them in one shot."

"All the bottles of that center one?"

"No." Akuha looked from left to right at all seven bottle pyramids. "_All_ of them."

Tsukune nodded and threw the ball as hard as he could. While it traveled straight over the center bottles, the gust created from how fast it traveled pushed all the bottles. All seven of them fell halfway over and stopped, apparently interconnected by strings inside them.

The young man stared wide-eyed at the seven tilted bottle stacks. "Uhh…"

Akuha didn't look amused. "You cheap, scamming little-"

"Hold on." Tsukune picked up a second ball. "I got three tries, remember?" He threw it too, this time causing the strings inside the bottles to snap. All forty-two bottles went flying into the wall with two holes in it. "Well, I couldn't get them all in one."

Akuha covered her mouth with both hands as she laughed.

The man made a nervous grin and held out a big penguin plushy to them.

Akuha brought a hand up. "Keep it." She walked off.

"You sure you don't want the penguin?" Tsukune asked next to her. "It was my treat."

"If you want to give me another present, I'd like something a bit more discrete."

Quite a few people were gathered around a High Striker, the game that involved striking a lever with a mallet to knock a weight up to ring the bell at the top. The tower that the weight was supposed to travel up was exactly fifty feet high.

"Step right up!" The High Striker operator shouted, "C'mon boys, show me which of you are real men!"

A long line of muscular yōkai were already waiting to take a try. The next one up smashed the mallet onto the lever with a loud 'clang'. The weight went up the scale, reaching only seven feet. No one laughed or remarked. Seven feet had been pretty average so far.

Tsukune watched the contestants until he noticed Akuha holding the coin purse to his shoulder, starring off into space. Tsukune snatched the coin purse. "Alright, alright." He moved to the back of the line.

One after another, challengers came up to test their strength, never making higher than ten feet. The High Striker wasn't rigged, but seemed to be greatly scaled up for yōkai. After five minutes had gone by, it was finally Tsukune's turn. A few laughs were heard as he picked up the mallet. He was easily the smallest person to try so far.

"Energy into raw strength…" Tsukune whispered as he rolled up his sleeves. He'd become fairly muscular after all the weird exercises Akuha had him do. He raised the mallet and struck the lever, creating a shock wave that knocked nearby spectators off their feet. The weight blasted up the scale, breaking straight through the bell and shattering it to pieces.

The High Striker operator fell on his back. "Holy smokes!" he shouted as he looked up.

The weight continued to soar upwards like a bullet, ricocheting off the glass ceiling a whole mile above them.

"Tsuk!" Akuha pointed at the weight as it began to fall back down. "Catch it!"

Tsukune nodded and took off like a bolt of lightning. Keeping his eyes on the weight as it kept falling, he leapt over crowds, attractions, and booths without even needing to look at them. He had learned to see with more than just his eyes. The weight headed straight for the dead-center of a large cake on display. Tsukune jumped right over the icing, caught the weight out of the air, and landed on the floor softly.

Crowds applauded as Tsukune returned to the High Striker.

Tsukune dropped the weight onto the ground. "So, what do I win?"

The High Striker operator came up with a check for five-thousand dollars and a big smile. "That was incredible! No one's rung that bell in four years!"

Tsukune took the check, but frowned. He was getting a little sick of hearing 'four years' everywhere he went. "Hey," he said to Akuha, walking back to her, "what exactly does this festival celebrate?"

"Umm…" Akuha stood silently. "Not sure. No one I ask seems to know."

XXX

Rows and columns of white picnic tables were neatly lined throughout a part of the tunnel, making a sizable food court. As it was still the afternoon, the place was fairly crowded, though Akuha and Tsukune were able to find a table for themselves anyways.

Tsukune poked a fork into his chicken. Water leaked out of it. "That's a cheap way to make chicken more expensive."

Akuha took a sip from her cup of juice. "It's a poor district. They've got to compensate somehow." She snapped a fortune cookie in two and found a parchment inside. It read 'Something will happen some time'. "Still, would it have killed them to put just a _little_ more thought into these fortunes? This is the most vague, unspecific prediction ever!" She took a bite of a caramel apple.

"I thought you never ate sweats."

"Arrrrrgh, I'm just making one exception." Akuha said, sounding unusually lively.

"Anyways, what game are we gonna try next? One of those Dunk Pond games?

Akuha spent ten whole seconds scoffing down more juice. "We're not playing any of those _stuuuupid_ games of chance, Tsuk." She slammed the cup onto the table.

"Of course." Tsukune looked in the direction of the game booths and pondered. "How about the one where you pop balloons with darts? Or the one with the crossbows? Or hey, how about I enter the cage fight arena?"

"Silly Tsukune. You can't fight cages." Akuha went back to drinking more juice.

Tsukune made a confused look. "Ah… Akuha, are you feeling okay?"

Akuha raised her fist triumphantly. "**Ex**tremely!" Her face was completely red.

Tsukune bent over and took Akuha's juice from her.

Akuha clumsily reached after it. "That's mine…" she whined.

Tsukune brought the rim of the cup to his nose and sniffed it. It was juice alright, but it was spiked despite not ordering it to be. "Akuha, you're drunk!"

"I'm not drunk." Akuha's face and arms fell onto the table. "I don't wanna be."

Tsukune gave Akuha a concerned look. She was only halfway through her third glass, yet she was already this far gone. Maybe something about vampires got them drunk faster, or perhaps Akuha was just that bad at holding her liquor. "I think you've had enough to drink." He got up and moved to her side of the table.

At that moment, a group of seven Fairy Tale soldiers walked nearby. Tsukune recognized their uniforms from some photos Ruby had shown him. The soldiers didn't look like they were expecting trouble. They just wanted to enjoy themselves while they were here.

Tsukune placed Akuha onto his back, putting his hands under her legs and letting her arms dangle from over his shoulders. "We're getting out of here."

"But I want _mooooooooooooore_…" Akuha said with her chin resting on his shoulder.

"Quiet!" Tsukune whispered, hoping the soldiers wouldn't recognize Akuha's voice. Tsukune moved out of the food court and walked along the perimeter of a massive pool at the center of the tunnel. It was only three feet deep, but the size of a football field in area. A lone lit candle floated in the middle of the pool for whatever reason.

A girl walking by suddenly tripped over her long skirt.

"Uh!" Tsukune stopped to look. "Are you alright?"

The girl got to her knees with a light mark on her forehead. "Oh dear." She placed a hand on the bruise. "How clumsy of me!" The girl had tan skin, long wavy blond hair, and wore a white flowing dress with gloves and boots. Oddly enough, she also wore a tiara that held her hair back and two small crosses for earrings.

"Sorry." Tsukune shrugged. "I'd help you up but…" He checked over his shoulder. Akuha seemed to have fallen asleep. "My hands are kind of full at the moment."

"I'm peachy." The girl said with a wink. She got up on her own and inspected Tsukune's piggyback rider. "Say, what's wrong with her?"

"She's a little… wasted."

The girl looked closer. "Strange. She looks like a perfect mix between two of my sisters."

"Small world." Tsukune looked back at the Fairy Tale soldiers in the food court. "Look, I gotta run."

"Okay." The girl waved as Tsukune took off. "Take care." She turned and walked the other way. "Nah. There's no way that could be Akuha. Big-sis does not drink."

XXX

"We've got another order!" yelled the cashier from behind the counter.

A seventeen-year old boy working as a waiter made his way through the jam-packed restaurant. "Coming!" Nearly every table had four or more people sitting at it. Had it been any other day this place would be practically deserted. Few in the Arassi region could afford such fancy dining, but today even this luxurious place couldn't keep a table open.

The cashier set a tray of food onto the counter. "Table E9. One of the tables sitting outside." he said.

The young waiter picked up the tray. "Got it." He stared down at the tray as he walked off. Besides a wineglass, there was nothing but sweets on it; fancy chocolates, pastries, cake. "Whoever ordered this must be a real fatty…" he joked with a bright smile on. Everyone was in high spirits today. Happy voices were heard all around.

Just outside the door was a small patio with a dozen tables around. Like any other building, the restaurant was located along the side of the glass tunnel.

"Let's see… table E9…" The waiter marched over to the table, still with a bright smile on his face. Opposed to what he expected, a young girl was seated there alone with a book open. "Excuse me?" the waiter said, "Miss?"

The girl lowered her book and closed it. She looked beautiful, baring long white hair and purple eyes. She wore an extravagant black dress with the skirt dropped down to her ankles, making it akin to a ballgown.

"Woah." The waiter blushed.

Everyone was in bright spirits today, everyone except for this girl. She seemed cheerless, maybe even a little depressed. "Why do you stare?" She made a faint smile. "Is there something on my face?"

"Ah!" The waiter snapped out of the trance. "Sorry." He placed the tray onto the table.

The girl gave a slight nod as she took a sip from her wineglass. Her soft smile faded away.

The boy squeezed his hands together, hoping not to screw up. "So…" he said, "boyfriend troubles?"

"I'm single for the moment, but you wouldn't be wrong." The girl folded her leg over flirtatiously. "Don't let your impression of me now fool you. I can be rather gregarious when I wish to be."

The waiter looked around nervously. A number of other guys seemed to be watching the girl. "So… did your boyfriend just dump you or something? People usually bring dates to this festival."

"I guess you could say something like that, but I just arrived in this city yesterday." The girl's finger trailed around the rim of her glass. "It's the first time I've been here in four years. I do a lot of traveling."

"You came here for the festival then?" The waiter made a cheesy grin, unable to keep his cool. "That's not surprising. The region is always packed this day because of it."

The girl watched the crowds buzz nearby. "I can see that."

"Ah… I umm…" The waiter rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath. "My shift ends in less than an hour. Later tonight, the biggest, wildest party you've ever seen will be thrown right here at this plaza." He adjusted to an ecstatic expression. "Would you like to join me for it? Locals or not, everyone's always invited!" He looked over the half-mile-long distance of smooth marble flooring. The tunnel ran on endlessly to the left and right, and _all_ of it would be covered in even more amusements very soon, half of it was already set up. "Drinks, food, games, music, dancing; the festival has something for everyone!"

The girl just took a bite of her cake with a fork. She had purchased so many sweets only because she liked them, not for the festival. "I'm sorry, but I didn't come here for festivities."

"Wait, what?" The waiter peered at her in disbelief. "Don't tell me you came here by pure chance. You at least _knew_ about the festival, right?"

"Yes, and a little more." The girl went on with eating her Rice Crème Brûlée. "I am not here by coincidence, nor am I here to celebrate." She turned her head and looked the waiter in the eye. "Do _you_ know what this festival commemorates?"

"Uh…" The waiter thought to himself. He never actually realized it until know, but he had no idea what the celebration was for. "I'm… not exactly sure. The festival has been around since before I was born." He wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I just know there's a wild party on this day every year, and I always look forward to it."

The girl folded her arms onto the edge of the table, remaining silent.

"I grew up thinking of it like that." The waiter poked his fingers together awkwardly. "I wish I could say more, but a party is all it's ever been to me."

"I can relate." A hint of sorrow spread across the girl's face. "It was a while before father told me about the flood."

"Flood?"

"It happened three centuries ago. The old magic barriers weren't as reliable as the thick glass ones today." The girl looked over her shoulder. She stared into the massive pool in the middle of the tunnel. "Today, this region celebrates its revival from ruin, before that, it was only quiet memorial, and before even that, the people here used to light a candle for each person that died; they prayed for them to rest in peace. It wasn't a joyous festival at all, not like it is today."

The boy had run out of things to say. He'd never been very good with girls.

"I used to come here every year with a cherished friend, but it was never the same for either of us after we learned of the holiday's origin. It's astounding how much this event has changed."

One of the boy's coworkers came out the door and called for him. "Hey! Quit fooling around out here! We've got lots more orders coming in!"

The waiter sighed. "It was nice talking to you," he said to the girl, "could I have your name?"

"Talia," she said, "Talia Danican Philidor."

The waiter smiled, nodded, and reluctantly ran off towards the restaurant doors.

"What a nice young-man." the girl said, "On his behalf, I pray we do not meet again." By the time she finished her meal, she felt someone approach behind her. "Can I help you, Kahlua?" she said without looking.

"I've been looking all over for you, Tal." Kahlua said as she laid her arms onto the chair's backrest. She inspected the book left on the table. _Human, All Too Human_ by Nietzsche. "Nerd!" Kahlua shouted humorously.

"Is it wrong to seek knowledge?" Talia said blandly.

"No, it's boring." Kahlua said innocently, "Anyways, we're heading out in a couple minutes. You ready to go?"

Talia looked back at the wide pool, staring at the lone candle she lit. "Yes." she said, "Yes, I'm ready now."

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**I won't suger-coat it. This is sort of a filler chapter.**


	6. Chpt 6: Waltz With The Devil

**Clíodhna – 8 Years Ago**

"Checkmate again." André moved a Rook next to his opponent's King. The Rook, a Pawn, and a Knight were each within the King's range, trapping him as they shielded each other perfectly.

His opponent made an amused chuckle. "That final mating combination was something else, Philidor. This game almost flawlessly illustrates the value of pawns."

André Philidor gave a humble nod. "It is a novelty of which few are aware or perhaps capable of noticing, to play the pawns well."

"The most feeble pieces on the board."

"And they are the souls of chess, Trofimov." André reached for his glass of water on the short, wide table between them. "It is they, which distinctively determine the attack and defense. Their good or bad arrangement decides the outcome of the game." He took a brief drink.

Trofimov looked around the manor's large study room they were in. A dozen maids and servants among the multitudes that worked here conversed quietly. They all seemed very relaxed, as if the estate were a second home to them. "Loosely controlled, boasting high wages, given many benefits… back in the day I often wondered why you treated your employees like this. Could your philosophy regarding Pawns have anything to do with it?"

"I reward those that deserve it, and within reason." André explained, "My obligation to treat them well hails not from credulous altruism, but from their importance."

Trofimov put a hand to his chin. "I'd mold a rebuttal if you didn't already put me out of business. Perhaps I should try things your way?"

"We each have our own way to play Chess or run a business. This is merely my way." André and his guest stood up. "There are many correct ways to do either."

"Some methods are better than others."

"But it is subjective nonetheless."

The former business rivals walked together over the fine red carpeting through the marvelous hallways lit of gold. The manor equaled the Shuzen mansion in size, and surpassed it in architecture and beauty. Vampires had to tone-down embellishment in favor of sturdiness for their heavyweight fights.

"I still have yet to see any of your family." Trofimov suddenly said.

"Ah yes, family." André made a charming smile. "I have one daughter, nine years of age. She's very smart." He decided to leave out how free-spirited she could be. She had the utmost respect and loyalty to her father, but for _no one else_. She was polite, proper, and sophisticated, but also somewhat mischievous. Whenever André was away or too busy, she often made a game out of tricking the servants and forging false paperwork to sneak out of the house. "I regret to say that she is away for the moment."

"What of your wife?"

André frowned. "Irena passed away when giving birth."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Trofimov said softly. "I hope you don't think any less of your daughter for it."

"Death by childbirth is twice as common for Lecorjamasi than for humans. It's partly why there's so few of them left."

Trofimov gave a surprised glance. "You're wife was a yōkai?"

"You have some sort of problem with that?"

"No." Trofimov quickly said. "Of course not. It's just…" He looked uncertain. "It's unusual, even in this city."

"It brought much unwanted media attention, her being the wealthiest in the city."

"I was still living in Moscow at that time, this is the first I've heard of it." The two of them stopped in the middle of the hall. "I can imagine you were given a lot of heat?"

André said nothing. One particular anti-human organization had even made death threats.

XXX

Almost no one wandered the back alleyways. Between the dumpsters, animals running around, and lack of maintenance, they were the only places in the city considered 'dirty'. A few gangs even hung out in some of them.

A trash can was knocked over as a large dog ran by it. Running from the dog was a small white kitten, perhaps only two months of age. The kitten came to a dead end, staring up at the wall with the dog growling behind her. Drool dripped from the dog's mouth. He wasn't starving, but at last he could have some fresh meat instead of more scraps from the dumpsters.

A raven suddenly swooped down and landed in the dog's way. Though the dog wasn't amused at first, he became startled as the raven grew bigger, morphing into a girl that looked to be the age of nine. She had long white hair, purple eyes, and wore a simple black dress with no frills or decorations of any kind. Around her neck was a big tear-shaped diamond necklace. She was small, but still bigger than the dog. "Away with you!" she yelled at the dog. "Go on, shoo!" She kicked a garbage can next to her, making a loud 'ding'. The dog turned and ran off.

Talia turned to the frightened kitten behind her. As she began to reach for her, the kitten backed against the wall, afraid. Talia stopped herself, instead kneeling down to hold a hand out. The cat slowly approached and sniffed Talia's fingers. "What are you doing all by yourself, scruff?" She started petting the cat. "Where's your momma?" Beneath all the fur, the cat felt boney. She was apparently starving. "Oh…" Talia frowned. "Yours too, eh?"

The kitten meowed and grabbed onto Talia's skirt, climbing onto her lap. The kitten curled into a ball and started purring.

"Would you like to come home with me?"

The kitten made a stuttered, excited meow. She sounded like a squeaky toy.

"I guess that means yes." Talia sat down with her legs criss-crossed. "You're going to need a name though. How about Lilly?"

The kitten made a low whiny meow.

"You don't like it?" Talia pondered. "What about Moonlight? Milkshake? Ivory?"

The kitten meowed with excitement again.

Talia smiled. "Ah! I think you like that name." She held the kitten high above her face. "Ivory."

Ivory meowed loudly from up high.

Talia giggled and gently cradled the cat to her chest with both arms. "I can't wait to introduce you to father!"

A piece of paper crumbled as someone stepped on it.

Talia stood up and swung around with the cat still in her arms. "Huh?"

A boy no older than ten approached her. He had short white hair, red eyes, and pale skin. He wore mostly black, save for a crimson jacket that was slightly torn and damaged. He was bruised and brutally beaten, barely able to stand. "Take off that necklace." he said, "Drop it on the ground, now."

Talia raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, you're a vampire aren't you? What could've given you so much trouble?"

The boy was panting, trying hard to stay conscious. "Please… just put it down or I'll… I'll…"

Talia noted the insincerity in his voice. "You're not going to kill a girl over jewelry."

"I'm serious." The boy made a disgraced look. "I need money."

"No." Talia grasped the necklace defensively. "This is more than a mere trinket to me. It's all I have left of my mother."

"Well I'm taking it one way or another." The boy took a step forward. Blood dripped onto the floor from an open wound and he collapsed. He blanked out with the sight of Talia running towards him.

XXX

The boy woke up in a large warm bed, looking up at an elegant white ceiling. He seemed to be in a guest bedroom. He sat up and noticed his wounds were treated and bandaged. "Well how about that…" he whispered.

"Ah, you're finally awake." said a maid near the bed.

The boy leapt out of bed and out the door like a blur.

"Wait!" the maid shouted, "Come back!"

The boy searched for a window, not to escape, but to see for himself where he was. He instantly froze in the next doorway when he saw the girl with the cat, standing before two grown men in the room.

André sounded frustrated with his daughter. "You snuck out of the house, wandered the city alone wearing expensive jewelry, then returned with a wounded boy."

Talia looked down at the kitten in her arms. "Let's not disregard my new friend here."

André shook his head and smiled. "You are just like your mother when she was your age." He inspected the white kitten. "Why a cat? I'd have imagined you'd fancy a more playful pet. A dog for instance."

Talia shrugged. "I dislike dogs." she said with disfavor, "They're obnoxious, filthy, and pretentious." She stroked the top of Ivory's head. "Cats on the other hand are calm, clean, and simply adorable."

Trofimov studied the girl. "What manner of child speaks like this?" he murmured.

"My girl loves reading books." André said, "With more money than she could spend, all she ever asks for is more to read."

"What kinds of stories does she like?"

André put a hand on his chin. "Let's see…" He tried to recall as many as he could. "Last year alone, she read stories written by Thomas Eliot, Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Faulkner, Edgar Allan-"

"Alright, I get it." Trofimov interrupted.

"You asked."

Trofimov glared at Talia as if she were some kind of freak. She stared back at him innocently. "Lecorjamasi shouldn't be any smarter or dumber than anyone else." Trofimov said.

Talia looked to her dad. "Perhaps I acquired it from father."

"And your altered feathers." Trofimov observed Talia's dress. "Why is your dress so plain when your mother's was so graceful?"

Talia performed a curtsey, displaying her wear. "A Lecorjamasi's attire blossoms and grows more elaborate as a sign of maturity." She noticed her father staring at the doorway behind her.

"Umm…"The boy stood there nervously. "Hi?"

"Oh don't be shy." Talia came up to him, smiling. "Your name?"

"Frederick." he said, "My name is Frederick."

"Okay, Fred." Talia said, "How on Earth did you end up the way you were?"

"You know how people feel about vampires." Frederick recalled exactly how his father put it. "They fear us, but the moment one of us is alone, they come after him." He gritted his teeth. He was lying. He was beaten by another vampire.

"There aren't many nomad vampires," Talia said, "and there most certainly aren't many homeless ones."

"Erm…" It was indeed quite strange. Even vampires considered 'runts' would be taken in by other vampires in the name of keeping their bloodlines pure. "The only vampire manor in the city is gone now."

Talia tilted her head. "Gone?"

"It happened two days ago." André said, "It was set aflame and burned into ruins."

"Ye… yeah." Frederick scratched his head. "That's right. I've been on my own since the fire." That was also a lie. He was thrown out the day before the fire.

Trofimov looked unconvinced. "I was informed that the vampires living there had left the city."

"I'm not related to any of them." Frederick said, "My Dad was in the tower when the whole thing collapsed. My mother was just a mistress and wasn't married to him. I don't know who she is."

Talia sighed and shook her head. "What an unfortunate turn of events."

Frederick looked at André and pleaded. "Please sir, could you give me a place to stay? I may be a minor, but a vampire's strength could be useful to your company."

André stroked his chin again. He didn't like the idea of having a vampire under the same roof as his daughter, even if the manor was huge.

Talia was quick to stand up for Frederick. "Father, I'm aware this isn't a charity, but could you not make one exception?"

André hesitated. "Very well." He spoke to Frederick. "I'll rent an apartment room in Arassi for you, but this doesn't mean you can get lazy. I'll think of some sort of work for you to do."

Frederick bowed. "Thank you sir. I won't disappoint you."

Talia giggled. "Oh, I hoped there would finally be another my age in this manor to speak to." she said with sarcasm. She knew this manor well, and could easily just sneak out again anyways.

XXX

**Clíodhna – Present Day**

A raven with purple eyes stood atop a tall lamppost, surveying the entrance courtyard to the largest manor in the city. Walkways were neatly lined all over the yard in with gardens and fountains between them. Handfuls of wealthy couples were seen all around, Akuha and Tsukune blending in among them.

The raven flapped its wings and took off toward the tower base, flying through a slightly open window and landing in an empty hallway. It slowly began to grow, changing into a young teenage girl dressed in a blossomed, elaborate black dress. She knew the guards here would recognize and immediately apprehend her, but sneaking around them wouldn't be a problem. She knew this manor well.

XXX

"_Dang_!" Tsukune said as they walked through the grand entrance hall with many other guests. "Vicky's place was nice, but this…" He eyed the hall's gold framing, priceless artworks, and a chandelier the size of a small house. "This is just ridiculous!"

Akuha had a palm on her head. She still wasn't feeling very well. "The owner is a multi-trillionaire."

Tsukune recalled the man's intention to steal everything Vicky had. "And all this isn't enough for the guy?"

They came before a man with a book labeled 'guest list'. "Hold on, you two." He opened the book and looked through it. "You're clearly wealthy, but I'll need to make sure you-"

"They're with me." said a voice. Akuha and Tsukune turned to look. Vicky approached them wearing the ocean-blue evening gown she had put on earlier in the afternoon. Beside her was Rukt, still in his usual armor. "They're two very important business associates. Now could you let us pass? We've each had a busy day."

"Forgive me for my ignorance, milady." said the man. "The entire first through fifth floors are open to all guests."

The four of them walked by the man and moved with the crowd. "How was that?" Vicky asked Akuha.

"The more money you put down, the less questions are asked," Akuha chuckled, "and everybody knows you've got money."

Tsukune looked to Rukt as the girls talked. "You gonna help us find Moka?"

"I'm only here to watch over Viktoriya." Rukt said, "Besides, Akuha wants to keep this cloaks-and-daggers." He continued to nosily stomp forward. He was many things, but subtle wasn't one of them.

They came into a tremendous, magnificent ballroom already filled with guests and maids. Food and refreshments lay across a long white table and a group of musicians played a relaxing tune. At the far side of the room were two wide stairways to a balcony, where a lone man stood with his hands on the railing.

"Oldest building in the city?" Tsukune asked.

Akuha stood beside him with a hand on her hip. "This huge tower at first _was_ the city."

"Wait… what?"

Rukt squatted down to Tsukune's ear. "After conflict broke out, people split off into their own groups and made their own smaller towers, like the one Vicky and I live in. It was hundreds of years later when they made peace and connected them with those tunnels you see today."

Tsukune gave an impressed nod. "There's a lot of history to this place."

Vicky started forward. "Good luck, you two." She ran off to talk toward the refreshment table.

Rukt followed after her. "Do what you need to do."

A number of people were already dancing the waltz at the center of the room. Akuha recognized some among them as Fairy Tale Officers.

"So…" Tsukune murmured, "what _do_ we do from here?"

Akuha put a worried finger to her chin. She hadn't planned this far. Coming to this party would allow her to get a hold of a Fairy Tale officer outside the Floating Garden, but now that she was here, how could she question one without alerting them all?

A servant approached them. "Would either of you like champagne?" He held forward a silver tray with many wineglasses.

Akuha looked irritated. "I will never… drink… again!"

The servant nodded and turned. "I've heard that before." He suddenly tripped. "Woah!"

Akuha immediately caught a wineglass in each hand, on her knee, and the tray on the tip of her foot. Not a drop was spilt.

"So sorry miss!" The servant got up. "You saved my job just now. Thank you." He took the tray and drinks. He hurried away in embarrassment.

Tsukune frowned at Akuha. "That was nice but… I thought we weren't supposed to draw attention."

"And letting glass shatter at our feet wouldn't?"

The man at the balcony railing tapped a spoon to his wineglass. "I would have your attention for a moment." he said in a refined, yet baleful voice. The room suddenly fell silent as everyone turned to look.

_(If I could pick a voice, it would be Phil Morris' Vandal Savage.)_

With a closer glance, Tsukune could tell the man wasn't wearing a suit. Instead he wore a red cape and an incredibly detailed, daunting armor. The armor definitely wasn't a cheap show piece, but an ancient work of art. Elegant portrayals of skulls and dragon heads embellished the armor, and the six horns coming out of the helmet made it look scary. The face was hidden; only two ominous eyes could be seen. Tsukune felt a foreboding aura coming off it. It felt like… malice.

(_Check my profile page for the picture under 'Hrothmund'. Yay, I finally made a Guild Wars reference.)_

"I'm delighted to see you all." the man said as he began to walk down the steps, "You, who made it this far through your own undertaking and dedication." He stepped onto the floor. "Each of us came from our own part of the world; our own way of life; our own ideologies, but all of us has made many sacrifices, material and personal, to keep this grand city alive." He raised his wineglass high. "To you, and to all the hard working men and women of Clíodhna. Enjoy the spoils I have sacrificed much to acquire. You've earned it."

The sound of music and people talking steadily returned as everyone went back to what they were doing.

"I would join this dance," said the armored man, "but I'm stuck in this thing." He knocked a fist against the chest plate twice. Some of the guests laughed softly.

"Have you seen that weird armor before?" Tsukune asked.

"No, but I know of it." Akuha said, "It was made for Ares, god of war, but he was killed by the time it was finished. You can only take it off after winning a battle."

"Hmp." Tsukune nodded. "Must make it hard to use the bathroom."

Akuha watched as the all dancers suddenly switched partners. "Hmm…" She looked over at Tsukune. "Tsuk." She held her hand out. "May I have this dance?"

Tsukune made a disproving look. "How is this doing 'what we need to do'?

"Clíodhna has its own spin on the waltz. Everyone's supposed to switch partners every so often."

Tsukune just stared. "So?"

Akuha gestured at the people waltzing. "Some of those guys are Fairy Tale officers."

Tsukune took a moment to catch on. "Oh, I get it." he said, "But… I've never waltzed before."

"I've done it once. It's easy." Akuha pulled Tsukune by the wrist into where the guests danced. She turned to him and took his left hand into her right. "Place your other hand around my back." She placed her left hand on his shoulder. "Keep your eyes focused on mine." She stared into his eyes as they began to move. "Now just follow my lead." she whispered. They blended in with the other dancers.

Tsukune learned fairly quickly. He had been taking instructions from Akuha all last week after all.

"Oh, you're good at this." Akuha said friskily, "Dip me."

"You want me to do what?" Tsukune said, flabbergasted.

"You know, 'the dip'. You bend forward and I bend backward."

"Umm, okay." Tsukune leaned forward, carefully holding Akuha slightly above the floor with his right hand. He pulled her up and went back to stepping. "How was that?"

"Sloppy, even for a first timer."

Tsukune shrugged. "Just curious," he said, "You mentioned doing this before. Who was your partner?"

"Uh… err…" Akuha made a queasy look. "It was… Vicky."

"Wh…" Tsukune imagined Akuha and Vicky intimately waltzing together. He burst out laughing.

"She was just showing me how!" Akuha whispered unpleasantly.

Everyone began to switch dance partners. Akuha and Tsukune followed suit and parted ways.

A man in his thirties approached and took Akuha. "Wow, aren't you a pretty thing?" the man said, "My ex-wife would be jealous."

Akuha just ignored the man. He was an aristocrat of no interest to her.

Tsukune inspected his new dance partner. "Ah, hey there." He smiled. "Didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

Vicky laughed. "I dance better with people I'm familiar with."

"Same here." Tsukune looked back at Akuha, whom paid no attention to her partner. "You and Akuha are the only girls I know here though."

"I hope you're good with women then."

"You have no idea…" Tsukune looked around at the other dancers. Half the girls were slim and his age. "By the way, why do we switch partners down here in the first place? It seems kinda odd in a city that empathizes individual achievement."

"It's something about showing we can still cooperate yadda yadda yadda…"

A few more minutes passed before everyone switched again. The next girl to approach Tsukune seemed docile, but quite pretty. She wore a pink gown and had a rose in her long, dark brown hair that was perfectly straight, save for a few thin chain-braids. She performed a curtsey. "Drem yol lok. Greetings." she said in a Romanian accent. "I would be honored to have this dance." Her grip felt surprisingly strong when Tsukune took her hand. While she seemed delicate, Tsukune could feel a remarkable hidden power in her when he concentrated hard enough.

(_P__rofile page. Picture under 'Yolnahbrii'.)_

"The honor's all mine miss…"

"Yolnahbrii."

"Excuse me?" The name seemed odd to Tsukune, no matter what part of the world the girl came from.

"Zu'u Yol-Nah-Brii." she said slowly. Her breath felt unusually warm.

"Umm… mind if I call you Yol?"

"Geh, nat los torak." Yol said to him, "Krosis… sorry. I mean to say 'that is acceptable'."

Tsukune wondered what kind of language Yol was switching on and off of, but decided not to dig. If she was as powerful as he sensed, she might be a part of Fairy Tale. At that thought, he stopped talking to her.

Akuha didn't speak to her dance partner either. It wasn't that she was frightened by him, but because Raika, the 5th subdivision leader would most certainly recognize her voice.

"What? Am I just that intimidating?" Raika asked with a smug expression.

Akuha cleared her throat and tried to sound higher-pitched. "Yes, you look quite hideous." she said, imitating the way Talia spoke.

Raika shot a cruel look at her. "On second thought, just keep your mouth shut."

Akuha had no problem staying quiet. A subdivision leader was overkill. A mere officer, preferably one that was weak, was all that she needed.

At the same time, Yol seemed to take notice to Tsukune's silence. "Did… did I say something wrong?" she asked timidly.

"Huh?"

"If it's about using my native tongue," Yol gave an apologetic bow, "I am sorry if I offended you."

"What? I'm not angry with you." Tsukune said quickly, "I think it's great to be proud of what, and more importantly, who you are."

"You're just being nice." Yol said with a heavy blush.

"Yeah, that too."

Everyone began to switch partners again.

"Pazet'toon…" Yol let go of Tsukune and curtsied again. "Farewell. Mulaag ahrk ahkrin." She turned and found someone else.

Tsukune had to admit Yol seemed nice as well. "No way someone like that could be working for Fairy Tale." He suddenly realized he was the only male without a partner. He groaned as a seventy-year-old lady grabbed him.

Akuha had much better luck with her partner. She didn't know his name, but she recognized him as a 5th subdivision officer; she never forgot a face. They had never met directly nor exchanged a word before, so it was unlikely that he'd recognize her. This would be perfect if they weren't surrounded by one-hundred other people. Thankfully Tsukune wasn't the only one training last week. Akuha took a few short lessons herself. Her teacher was Kurumu.

"I've noticed you studying me." The officer look up and down Akuha's body.

"I've noticed that it's mutual."

"I'm just admiring your lovely dress."

"Oh please, every woman at this party is wearing a 'lovely dress'." Akuha said, emulating Talia's mannerism to seem more ladylike, while using Kurumu's advice to know what to say. "But only few of us would still look 'lovely' _without_ a dress."

"Mmm, you're getting all frisky on me."

"I'm bored to tears with all this dancing." Akuha leaned her upper body against his. "I was hoping you would know of _other_ amusements?"

"I know one that's quite…" The officer's hand on her back slithered 'downward'. "…entertaining."

Akuha pretended to smile as she boiled with anger inside. It was getting difficult not to suddenly strangle him.

Tsukune watched as Akuha left the dance floor with whom he assumed was a Fairy Tale officer. "I guess that's 'mission accomplished'." Much to his relief, another switch was finally called. Seeing no reason to stay, he started toward the crowd and thought about grabbing a drink. A girl suddenly grabbed him and moved him to continue waltzing. "Huh? But I'm done-" His blood ran cold when he saw who it was.

"Hey there tall-and-handsome." Talia whispered tenderly.

Tsukune's heart skipped a beat. "You!" he gasped.

"You know my name." Talia stroked her finger up and down Tsukune's shoulder. "I'd appreciate it if you used it."

Tsukune tried to let go of her, but her hold on him remained firm. She wasn't strong, but forcing her off would draw attention.

"Ah ah ah," Talia said deviously, "there are guards and members of Fairy Tale all around us. I would merely need to raise my voice to expose both you _and_ Akuha."

Tsukune gulped. "What do you want, Talia?"

"I just want a little chat with a sweet, kind young man like yourself." Talia noted how tense Tsukune looked. "Mmm? You're not going to rip off my shirt again, are you?"

"Uh… no I…" Tsukune was too nervous to think properly. What should he say? What would Akuha or Ginei say? They each knew Talia better than he did. "Umm… Ginei says you taste like strawberries."

Talia giggled. "Is that supposed to mean _you_ want a taste? I've noticed you have an appetite for dangerous women." She held her face close to Tsukune. Their noses nearly touched. "Most notably, Miss Akuha Shuzen."

Tsukune moved his face from hers. "I'm friends with whoever I get along with. What's it matter to you?"

"Akuha never told you why she hides her face in this city, has she?"

"As a matter of fact, she has." Tsukune said bluntly, "She killed some reputable people in this city, like Vicky's dad and this manor's last owner. People liked them, so they hate her, but nobody knows who _really_ ordered those hits. Whoever they were, they're the ones people should be mad at." Tsukune suddenly felt Talia yank him forward. "Ugh!" He noticed they had fallen into 'the dip' position.

Talia brought her lips beside Tsukune's ear. "She certainly told you the truth, but she did not tell you all of it." she whispered, "What she did next, you might call… genocidal."

Tsukune felt appalled, but didn't let it show. He pulled Talia up and continued to waltz with her. "No way. You're a known-"

"Liar? Then ask Rukt next time you see him." Talia said innocently, "Akuha will speak the whole truth to no one, not even you." She made a mischievous smile. "Her pride won't allow it."

Tsukune didn't know what to say. He trusted Akuha, but she had been so secretive since they got to this city. "I guess it's worth asking about."

A couple of guards pushed through the crowd. "You there!" One of them pointed at Tsukune and Talia. "Hold it!"

Tsukune froze. "Uh oh…" They must have found out about him.

Talia pulled him by the wrist. "Come this way if you don't wish to be caught." They squeezed through the guests and moved into one of the many hallways. After coming around a corner, Talia pressed a finger onto the wall, activating a hidden button. The wall opened up to revealing a dark hidden passage. Talia stepped inside.

Tsukune hesitated. "I'm not going in there. This is part of some elaborate plan to… to take over the world or something."

Talia laughed playfully. "Such a preposterous dominion is for aberrant materialists." She brought up her index finger and made the 'come here' motion. "Now how about some alone time?"

Tsukune heard the guards getting closer. "Argh, alright." This had to be a trap, but he didn't have much of a choice, nor the time to think about it.

The guards came around the corner to find a long empty hallway. "You sure you saw her?" one of them asked.

"That had to have been Talia. I'd recognize her dress and white hair anywhere."

"Who was the guy with her?"

"Probably her new boyfriend. He doesn't matter."

XXX

**Guest Bedroom**

Of all the things that could've gone wrong, Akuha was surprised how smoothly her ploy was going. The officer didn't ask her who she was, where she came from, or anything. Instead he brought her to a vacant bedroom, dimmed the lights, threw her onto a bed, and began stroking her upper leg from on top of her.

"Aren't we taking things a little fast?" Akuha said in a ladylike tone, "We don't even know each other's names."

The officer put himself directly on her and put his hands on her shoulders. "If that's the way you feel, aren't you gonna ask me a few things?"

Akuha made a scary smile. "_Yuuuup_." she said in her normal voice. She grabbed the officer by the throat and leapt off the bed. "And you're gonna tell me everything!" She held him above the floor.

The officer chocked in surprise. "Wha!" He tried to scream as Akuha broke one of his arms, but her hold on his throat was tight.

"First of the 'things I'm gonna ask you', you and your friends are holding sealed vampire in this city, a 'Moka Akashiya'."

"Argh! Who are you working for?"

"The Illuminati," Akuha said sarcastically. She bent his other arm. "I can break your limbs and remove them from the rest of you like parts of a toy, so I suggest you tell me where she's being kept… _quickly_!"

"The Fairy Tale embassy!" the officer cried.

"Embassy?"

The officer's voice was raspy with pain. "We built it when we gained a foothold in this city fou-"

"Four years ago?"

"The prisoner is going to be moved at exactly noon tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow? Moved to where?"

"To this manor! That's all I know!" The officer squirmed and kicked around. "Please, let me go! I promise I won't speak of this to anyone!"

Akuha crunched his neck, killing him instantly, and phased his corpse into the ground without a word. She had responded with 'I know you won't' to more interrogation victims than she could count. She peaked out the door and found no one roaming the hallways. Feeling no more reason to keep her choker on, she removed it and her hair quickly shortened back to its usual length. The long hair made for a great disguise, but it was hard to move with. "Maybe Moka would be a better fighter if her hair wasn't so long… and if her boobs weren't so big." After taking a moment to redo her familiar pigtails, she began to move swiftly and quietly through the hallways.

XXX

**Secret Tunnel System**

"This labyrinth runs throughout the entire manor." Talia said as she strode through the barren, stone tunnel. In her hands was a jar with some kind of yōkai firefly in it. The firefly shined brightly, lighting the tunnels for them.

"It looks like someone could get lost in here."

"Many have." They began to walk up a staircase. "Some have even died down here, unable to find their way out, so these tunnels were avoided, neglected, and ultimately forgotten."

"In that case, you do know where you're going, right?" Tsukune felt his foot kick something at the top of the staircase. He looked down and noticed an old doll lying there.

"It's been awhile, but I know my way around." Talia said, still walking forward.

As they kept going, Tsukune started to see more and more old toys lying along the tunnel. Dolls, trucks, building blocks; pretty much everything he'd imagine ten-year-old boys and girls playing with.

"I could care less if you watch your step." Talia said without looking, "I've long since outgrown them."

Tsukune accidentally crunched a toy. "These things are everywhere."

"We never threw anything away."

"'We'?"

They came to a dead end. Talia pushed her finger onto different spots of the wall, pressing dozens of hidden buttons in a specific sequence. The wall rose to reveal a bright silver light behind it. She stepped in and released the firefly from the jar she carried. It went off to join thousands of other fireflies like it that flew high above. "This was a private play-place only I and one other knew of."

Tsukune came forward to find a massive circular room. It was softly carpeted and well-lit by the fireflies above. Mountains of toys sat along most of the walls. "Dust and cobwebs aside, this room is quite nice."

"Not even father knew about it. Between me and Fred, it was our own little secret."

"Fred?" Tsukune cocked an eyebrow. "Is that the friend you mentioned?"

Talia just nodded.

"Whatever happened to him?"

"Absolutely nothing." Talia started toward one of the bare walls. "Nothing to _him_ anyways." She began to push more hidden buttons on the wall and then opened it. They came through a hidden bookcase-door into a large bedroom, complete with crouches, glass tables, mahogany drawers, and a curtained bed. There weren't any dressers for some reason.

"This room looks fit for a princess." Tsukune commented.

"It's my room," Talia strode forward, "exactly as it was four years ago." She stroked a finger over the drawer, noting there was no dust on it. "Oh Fred, still can't let go of the past." She knelt down to open a hidden compartment in one of the drawer's legs.

Tsukune looked around the room. All he had seen of this manor seemed like an awful lot to leave behind. His eyes went from the chandelier, to a painting on the wall, to the bed.

"Has the thought of us alone in my bedroom given you any naughty ideas?"

Tsukune thought it best not to respond. "Don't let her in…" he murmured to himself.

"I recall it was the _girl_ that's supposed to let-" Talia found an old, rusty key from the compartment. "Ah, there's the little devil."

"All this for some key?"

"Secrets lie behind locked doors, and this manor bares plenty."

XXX

**Manor Hallways**

Akuha peeked around the corner, carefully following Hrothmund and a group of Fairy Tale leaders at a distance, Galvinro and Raika among them. They walked into a room and closed the doors behind them.

Akuha tip-toed forward and put her ear to the door, only to find that the room was practically soundproof. She stared up at the door and thought. "Phasing through the wall would be too conspicuous…" She moved to the room next door instead, finding it to be vacant. She hopped onto a wardrobe and phased into the ceiling. The gap between the ceiling and the next floor was about four feet high, enough room for her to move without crawling. She repositioned herself to be directly over Hrothmund's meeting room.

"-that I would never do such a thing." came Hrothmund's voice.

"You were quick to support us before." said a voice recognized as Galvinro's, "Why not now?"

"There's no question the purpose of this design is to destroy the human race." Akuha could imagine Hrothmund folding his arms. "I've _left_ that business." he said firmly.

"Because you believe you've done your fair share, or because it's easier to do nothing?"

Hrothmund seemed to pause. "I no longer see the world as 'yōkai struggling against humans', but as 'organizations struggling against each other'. Even the SSE have accepted yōkai into their ranks."

"Well if that's the way you see things, look at it this way: you would've made yourself an enemy of a very powerful organization if you don't cooperate."

"You would waste time, money, and your best combatants at an attempt to merely discipline me?"

"The resources we've put down hardly compare to the payoff. It would render our tremendous investment… trivial."

Akuha could practically hear the two staring the other down.

"We're taking what we need," Galvinro said, "one way or another."

Hrothmund suddenly noticed a 'creak' in the ceiling. He stared up at where Akuha was for a long time. "Very well." he said reluctantly, "My company's assets are yours for the time being."

"Smart choice."

Commotion was heard as everyone seemed to talk at once. Eventually, the Fairy Tale leaders left the room, leaving Hrothmund there alone.

"So, Black Devil." the armored man said toward the ceiling, "Have you come for my life, or make sure that I'd say 'yes'?"

Akuha suddenly realized what just happened. Hrothmund likely wouldn't have made the deal if he didn't notice her… or if he knew she wasn't with Fairy Tale anymore. He probably thought she was secretly watching him in case he didn't cooperate. "Great…"

Hrothmund tightened his grip on his sheathed sword. "I know you're there, Akuha."

"There's a lot you _don't_ know, crybaby!" Akuha ran off in an instant.

XXX

**Secret Tunnel System**

Tsukune continued to follow Talia though the maze of tunnels for what felt like half-an-hour. They weren't walking in circles, rather this place was just that big. One particular spot they passed through was a massive arena once used as a gladiator pit centuries ago. Many times Talia tried to engage in small talk, but Tsukune just tuned it out, trying to keep her out of his head. At long last they came to another wall with a hidden button for Talia to press. Instead of opening up, a keyhole was revealed in which Talia inserted the key from earlier.

Tsukune recalled the possibility of a trap. "You better not try anything." He grasped the seal on his wrist. "I could punch your face in at any time."

"Akuha would without hesitation." Talia said calmly, "But I know you would never do such a thing."

"What makes you so sure?"

Talia turned her head and smiled. "Why you're a gentleman of course." She pushed the wall open.

Tsukune crossed his arms. "Don't think you can sweet-talk me like any other guy." he said firmly, "Believe me, I've had a lot of practice resisting feminine wilds."

"Oh, I know," Talia giggled, "but I love a good challenge."

Instead of more stone and concrete, the next room was an entirely metal installation. It was dark too, lit only by computers with blinking lights on them as well as long rows of green stasis tanks. Each of the tanks seemed to hold a bizarre creature akin to something from a sci-fi horror movie.

"This looks like a mad scientist's secret lab." Tsukune said.

"Less ethical research is done in here." Talia walked forward. "Tread carefully."

The hideous creatures woke up and began pounding on the glass as Tsukune walked by them. They kept their eyes fixed on him, never blinking, and paid no attention to Talia.

"They feel your vampire blood. They crave for it."

"But they could care less for a weaker yōkai like you."

Talia looked back at him. "You are implying that this is a trap I set for you?"

Tsukune gave a bold and direct "_Yes_."

Talia giggled. "If I was planning to kill you, I'd do so in a more civilized fashion." She hugged Tsukune's arm like a girlfriend as they walked. "How's this for collateral? With me this close to you, I'd be torn to shreds _with you_ if those experiments got out of their stasis tanks and attacked."

"Forget it." Tsukune shoved her away.

Talia maintained her pleasant demeanor. "Done." She came to the other side of the metallic room and unlocked another hidden door with the key. The door opened to reveal a corner of the outside entrance courtyard.

Tsukune's eyes were squinted as they adjusted to the light. "That's it?" he asked, "I thought you were going to show me something."

Talia took Tsukune's hand with both of hers and placed the key onto his palm. "Sweet little Moka will be brought into this 'secret lab' at exactly four o'clock tomorrow. Be here by then."

"I could just punch through the w-"

"These walls were designed to withstand blows from even they mightiest of vampires. You'll require this key to gain entry through the courtyard door."

Tsukune stepped out while Talia remained in the doorway. "Let's say I believed anything you've told me," Tsukune said, "why would you help me?"

Talia began to shut the door. "Well, I think you're kind of cute." The door closed. A hard-to-notice keyhole remained on the wall.

Tsukune pocketed the key. "Yeah right…" He turned and started walking. "It's obvious you're just planning something. You want me and Akuha to get something for you… still… if there's a chance to rescue Moka, I'd take it…" He sighed. "and you know that." He returned to the central part of the courtyard where guests were entering and leaving. He found a bench and sat down for a while.

"Sitting on the job?" came Rukt's voice. "You're a wild beast."

"Huh?" Tsukune looked up at the approaching giant. "Were you waiting for me or something?"

"You were easy to find. I never forget a scent." Rukt made a few sniffs from where he was. "And you have the scent of a woman on you, not Akuha's."

"That reminds me…" Tsukune stood up and faced him. "There are a few things I'd like to ask you about."

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**Guess what Yolnahbrii is. I'd give a hint if it wasn't so obvious.**

**Phew… all this writing is making me crazy.  
**


	7. Chpt 7: Spiral

…**and I thought chapter 6 was long. This one is _way_ longer.**

* * *

**Clíodhna**

Rodriguez opened the back hatch of what seemed like an old semi-truck in a deserted parting lot. He climbed in and was surrounded by high-tech computers, radio equipment, and weapons. After closing the hatch to this secret equipment cache, he walked to the end of the room and opened a steel, man-sized safe.

An unusual creature was restrained inside. Many would assume it was the upper half of a samurai armor with a cape on, but it was alive. It was Gairen Yuki, the formal leader of Fairy Tale's sixth subdivision. "So, have you come to finally finish me off?" Gairen asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"If it were up to me I would." Rodriguez leaned his head forward. "I'd melt you into an ingot and sell you to the auto industry." He pulled his head back and stood up straight. "But sadly it _ain't_ up to me. Lucky for you, Gungnir is a real 'nice guy'. That, or he's mellowed in his old age."

"Hmp, humans." Gairen Yuki laughed, "What a joke."

"Well then you must be quite a riot for getting your ass kicked by humans. There's more to us than numbers that force you and your friends to hide under a rock."

"Rodriguez!" Came a hard British accent. "Quit playing with the bloody scrap pile! We're heading out on thirteen-hundred hours." Gungnir grabbed a peculiar knife from the weapon rack and strapped it to his belt. The knife seemed to buzz with electricity.

Rodriguez closed the safe. "Yes sir…" he said in acknowledgment. "I've just been a bit anxious." He grabbed an Atchisson Assault shotgun (AA-12) and took a thirty-two shell drum magazine full of frag-12 high-explosive rounds.

"Tell me Rodriguez," Gungnir began to ask, "did you join this unit to save lives or to kill monsters?"

"How is 'to save lives by killing monsters'?"

"What about saving a monster? The V. I. P. is a vampire, but she still classifies as 'civilian'."

"Sir, our orders were only to keep Fairy Tale from having her. It _would_ be much easier to just eliminate her."

"Well then I got news for you." Gungnir sounded resentful. "It doesn't matter what you _want_ to do in this unit, cause in this unit what you do is follow my orders, so let's get one thing straight. If she willingly supports Fairy Tale's cause, kill her. If she attacks us despite knowing who we are and what we're doing, kill her. Otherwise, we do not kill civilians of any race."

XXX

The large car-highway tunnels were connected to a number of even larger glass domes, each containing metropolises that were quite similar to modern cities on the surface. These domes were constructed only fifty years ago after Clíodhna had become less isolated, making them the youngest parts of the city, so it made sense why they had less of that unique touch.

Akuha and Tsukune walked side-by-side down a sidewalk in their old outfits again. This particular dome was filled mostly with just warehouses and no people were around. Still, Akuha had the hood of her jacket up like before, and she looked no less menacing than last time. She carried a black suitcase in her right hand.

"Why are we here?" Tsukune asked as they walked, "This isn't anywhere near Hrothmund's place."

"We're getting Moka back _before_ she's shipped to his place." Akuha said. Only her chin wasn't covered in shadow.

"But Talia said-"

"I know what she said, Tsuk." Akuha said bitterly, "Doing things her way would give us the element of surprise and everything, but I don't trust her. We're not going to play into her hands again." Her hooded face turned in his direction. "You're not going to tell me that _you_ trust her?"

Tsukune thought back on Rukt's words yesterday. "What if I do?"

"Then you're a damned fool."

Tsukune's eyebrows furrowed. "It's pretty clear she's been doing a lot behind Fairy Tale's back."

"I could care less if she's genuinely trying to help us." Akuha faced forward again. "The next time I see her, I'm _immediately_ slicing her in half. She's a dangerous player and I want her out of the game."

"Not satisfied with killing just her father?"

Akuha came to a full stop. "Tsuk, how much did she tell you?"

Tsukune stood beside her. "Not a thing. I asked Rukt."

Akuha remained silent for a moment. "We can continue this conversation some other time." she said solemnly, "All I can say for now is that… I don't think Talia is mentally well. After her father died she just… snapped."

"She seems fine to me." Tsukune said, always quick to give a girl the benefit of the doubt.

"On the surface. No matter how crazy she is, she's still smart. She has her father's magnificent brain," Akuha's voice sunk, "just not his heart."

XXX

The Fairy Tale stronghold was fenced off by a full perimeter of twenty-foot concrete walls patterned with even taller guard towers. The building within was just a large warehouse re-purposed to be their base of operations. It wasn't up to par with what Fairy Tale usually threw around, so it likely wasn't used much until now. Hundreds of guards patrolled the walls and courtyard inside.

"So, how are we getting in there?" Tsukune asked, "We going soft or loud?"

"Both." Akuha pointed at the open front gate. "You will create a commotion at the entrance."

"Attack it?"

"Tell them you're lost and need directions… and be as loud and unshakable as possible. You're human, so it should be easy to get their attention. If anything goes wrong you can handle these grunts easily."

"Got it."

"I'll head in through the back." The box-part of the suitcase Akuha carried fell to the ground while the handle remained in her hand, revealing it to be the handle of a collapsible metal compound bow that was hidden within the suitcase. The bow was entirely black, had a pulley at each tip of the limbs, and had an attractable red-dot sight. It was the highest grade non-magic bow in production, courtesy of Rukt.

"That is one cool bow!"

Akuha expanded the five-thousand dollar bow, pulled the string back, and aimed as if ready to fire an arrow. "I've killed with every weapon under the sun. Swords, spears, axes, hammers, guns, once with a broom-"

"What?" Tsukune interrupted, "I erm… I know a broom is weird, but… you've killed with a gun before?"

Akuha pulled out a large quiver of arrows from the box section of the suitcase. "I was taught how to use them by a captain in the U. S. Marine Core."

"What for? You wouldn't need a gun to kill someone."

"People on both sides love them. The best way to know how you'd counter a weapon is to know how you'd use it yourself." Akuha strapped the quiver to her back with a belt. "Most vampires would look down at me for this, but I've sucked up my pride long ago."

The guards at the gate all seemed bored and uninterested. None of them were expecting any kind trouble.

"Excuse me," Tsukune shouted as he came up to them, "I'm lost. Could you help me?"

The guards sprung up in alarm and aimed their guns at him. "Hey, stop where you are!"

"Whoa, whoa, relax." Tsukune put his hands up, "I'm only looking for directions. Could you point me to where the Trofimov resi-"

"Get lost, human." one of the guards yelled, "Bother someone else."

"But there's no one else around…"

On the other side, Akuha prepared an arrow and drew her bow. Ambiance of cars in the distance drowned out any noise of the string tightening. A grunt surveying the area from a guard tower had an arrow plunge through his throat. He began to fall forward until Akuha leapt up to catch him and set him down quietly. A second guard in the tower had only barley turned his head before Akuha snapped his neck.

The tower was about thirty yards from the warehouse. Merely four armed soldiers patrolled on the roof. Akuha took a deep breath and quickly fired four arrows within a second, simultaneously hitting every guard in the neck to keep them from making a peep before dieing. With Tsukune shouting like an annoying tourist at the front gate, none of the guards noticed a hooded assassin flying over their heads and landing onto the roof.

The rooftop door suddenly opened and a lone guard with his arms full of soda cans came out. "We're out of beers, but we got plenty of-" He gasped and dropped the soda cans at the sight of a scary hooded figure.

Akuha rushed forward and stabbed him through the throat with an arrow like it were a knife. She caught the body and set it aside before it could noisily fall down the stairs.

XXX

Elsewhere in the building, Yolnahbrii sat on her own at a small table. She had no other sets of clothes besides rags, and so she still wore the nice pink dress she brought to the party yesterday. Back when she first arrived in the city, Talia and Kahlua had taken her shopping and bought it for her. Talia did her hair and made those long chain-braids while Kahlua gave her the rose. They were the only two members of Fairy Tale she actually liked. The party was the first time she'd ever felt like a real 'lady'.

A cell phone on the table rang.

Yolnahbrii picked up the cell phone and checked the caller I.D. "Talia?" She clicked the 'talk' button and put the phone to her head. "Geh ruvaakiin?"

"Yolnahbrii," Talia said through the phone, "this will seem out of the blue, but I need you to use your Aura Whisper in the warehouse, now."

"Hmm? Have you see someone sneaking in?"

"It's no more than a presupposition. Still, I would start by searching the rooftop."

"For whom?"

"Someone headstrong and predictable."

XXX

Akuha killed only four more guards in the hallways before an alert went out. Strange, she had hidden every body so far, so unless someone here could see through walls, it wasn't possible that- "See through walls…" Akuha thought. Unless it was Gyokuro herself, Yolnahbrii was probably in the building. The girl had an ability that allowed her to see life force, even through walls.

Akuha picked up the pace toward where she felt Moka's energy. Even when sealed, she'd recognize it anywhere. She readied a different kind of arrow as she ran, an explosive tipped one.

A door behind Akuha swung open and three guards ran out. "Hey!"

Akuha fired the arrow behind her without looking and blew the guards to a thousand pieces. She shot another explosive arrow at the wall in front of her, blowing a wide hole in it. She somersaulted through the opening, rolled over concrete ground, and knelt with a spearheaded arrow drawn. She found herself in a long parking garage.

There she was… straight ahead. Moka was being stuffed into a black limousine at the other end of the garage. "Nee-sama?" she said, looking back at the hooded figure with a bow.

Raika shoved Moka into the back seat. He had one foot in the limo as he bent down to catch an arrow Akuha had shot at the back tire. "That is one cool bow." he said with admiration. He tossed the arrow aside and got in the limo as it already started to move. A group of grunts that stood behind opened fire at Akuha.

The limo drove out of the building and into the courtyard. Despite looking like a fragile, luxurious vehicle, the limo smashed straight through one of the concrete walls like a tank and kept going.

Two guards talking to the human at the gate turned to see what the commotion was when Tsukune suddenly grabbed them and bonked their heads together. Like Akuha, he recognized Moka's energy in an instant. He ran around the side of the wall and directly after the limo.

The limo was bombproof, but not even that was a match for a vampire's strength. Tsukune leapt onto the back of the limo and pulled on the car roof. "Don't worry Moka! I'm coming to get you!" He tore off the entire roof to find Raika stand up and punch him in the face, sending him flying away.

Akuha flew by Tsukune and landed into the limo. Her bow was strapped to her back. Moka and a surprised Galvinro watched as she and Raika went at it. Raika tried to throw a punch, but Akuha dodged and sliced his arm off with the Jigen-Tou. The disembodied arm splattered into Galvinro's face.

Someone that had been sitting next to the driver at the front of the limo approached Akuha. Yolnahbrii inhaled and suddenly shouted, as if casting a spell. "Gaaaaaan… _Lah Haas_!"

The shout made a thunder-like echo and Akuha suddenly felt exhausted. She was so weakened that she nearly fainted on the spot. Raika immediately grabbed her with his other arm and tossed her out of the limo.

It was only seconds later when the limo was somehow zapped with an EMP and crashed into the side of a building. Raika tumbled to the side and got up. Akuha pulled out her bow and fired an explosive tipped arrow at him. He caught it with his only arm in front of his face, and suddenly noticed another spear tipped arrow coming at him. The second arrow pierced straight into the grenade tip of the first arrow, detonating it and engulfing him in a fiery explosion. He fell to the ground with his face completely burned.

The driver of the limo, a grunt, put a handgun to Moka's head and pulled her by the arm as he tried to radio for help. He was suddenly shot between the eyes with a bullet, and both he and Moka fell to the ground. A human in a cutting-edge nanosuit approached Moka with an outstretched hand, as if offering to help her up.

Moka was hesitant to take his hand. "Who are you?"

Gungnir helped the girl up. "Codename Gungnir, NATO special forces. I'm here to relieve you of Fairy Tale's custody."

With Akuha completely drained of fatigue, Tsukune rushed forward alone. He was suddenly grabbed and thrown back by a familiar face.

"Jul!" Yolnahbrii yelled at him, "I cannot allow you to-" Her eyes lit up when she recognized him. "Huh? You're the nice boy from the party!"

Tsukune frowned. "You seemed quite nice yourself. I can't imagine why you'd sign up with Fairy Tale." He grasped the seal on his wrist. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, so just step aside."

Yol remained where she was. "Krosis. I am sorry," she said sadly, "but I have no choice." She calmly took her dress off. All she wore now was her panties and a bra.

Tsukune felt a huge nosebleed as he tried to look away. "Erk! What are you doing?" he shouted dizzily.

"This dress is the only clothing I own." Yol folded the dress and threw it to the sidewalk. "I'd prefer not to ruin it when I take my true form." She bowed politely. "Mulaag ahrk ahkrin, beloved adversary." An eruption fire completely enveloped her.

Tsukune covered his mouth and coughed as his vision was blurred by a tsunami of greyish-red smoke. A pair of big, burning red eyes opened an inch from his face. Below them, rows of jagged teeth opened up and let out a long, overpowering roar, blowing him away in a whirlwind.

The smoke dispersed revealing a big red and purple dragon, still somewhat covered in fire. She had two thick horns on her head and was adorned with massive protruding black spikes from the back of her long neck down to the spade-shaped tip of her tail. As expected of her kind, her front arms bore a large webbed wingspan. "Praan hiu unslaad zii!" Yolnahbrii shouted in a sharp, booming snake-like hiss, "Dov wahlaan fah rel!"

(_Profile page. Picture under 'Transformed'._)

**Bite-sized Monster Dictionary**: Dovah, the embodiment of endurance, valor, and eternal clout. They are ageless and among the oldest yōkai in existence, predating even the ice age. Though their precise origin remains unknown, the first Dov are believed to be the children of the god Akatosh. Although monstrous in appearance, they are profoundly intelligent, capable of speech, written language, and comprehending other languages. Their spoken language can be used to cast powerful magic known as 'Thu'um'. Originally they did not mate or breed, but by 900 A. D. their numbers dwindled, forcing them to change themselves with the power of their Thu'um to be able to propagate. In 1350 the first half-dovah was born.

XXX

Galvinro crawled out of the flipped limo. His white suit was covered in charcoal. "I knew the Black Devil was treacherous, but allying with the SSE?" He looked over at Raika who lay burning on the ground, alive, but incapacitated. Back at the Floating Garden, Galvinro had said that two whole branches would be overkill. Now, he wished that they'd brought all of Fairy Tale with them.

Akuha leapt and flew high above toward the SSE soldier that escorted Moka, which Galvinro guessed was probably just to rendezvous with them.

Galvinro brought out a cell phone to call in everything they had.

XXX

Tsukune charged with his fist drawn back and his ears still ringing. By now Akuha had trained any thoughts of holding back out of him, and it looked like Yol could take it anyways. Tsukune was instantly stopped when a dragon arm came down like a hammer and smashed his face into the ground. He had only begun to get up when he was swiped aside and sent tumbling. He stood and tried leaping at her this time.

Yol caught him in her teeth and leapt up with her wings out, flying high up. While nearing the ceiling of the dome, she released a jet of flame behind Tsukune and shot him downwards like the cork of a shaken bottle.

Tsukune fell a long distance and landed onto the top of a tall building that was under construction. Directly above him Yol closed her wingspan and dropped like a rock, _body slamming_ onto him. The whole roof caved in onto the floor below it. Yol got up and inspected an unconscious Tsukune. Most combatants would be gloating by now, but Yol didn't seem to care or notice how easy this fight was going so far.

Tsukune woke up to see Yol's open jaws racing at him. Without a clue of what came over him, he instinctively lunged forward and headbutted her nose, causing her to step back and stand up on her hind legs. He sprinted forward and struck her in the stomach with a flying knee strike, his knee still against her as they fell off the building and landed onto the street making a loud crash and a huge dust cloud.

Yol brought her head up and looked around, noticing that Tsukune had disappeared in the dust. A stone slab suddenly shattered against the side of her head, though she hardly flinched. She looked at where it came from.

Tsukune stood there in the street with his arms spread out and his palms open, taking the same stance Akuha always made in a fight. "C'mon scaley! I was trained by someone a lot scarier than you!"

XXX

Moka was really getting sick of being moved around by strangers she didn't know for reasons she didn't know. Still, her first captors had at least treated her well, putting her in a nice room and giving her quality food, just as these two humans were being nice to her right now. She didn't trust them, but it was still an improvement over Fairy Tale. Nevertheless, Moka couldn't help but wonder… "Why does everyone want me so much?" she complained.

"Cause you're pretty?" Rodriguez said.

Moka just looked at him.

Rodriguez shrugged. "Hey, I was just joking." A large black blade sudden cut halfway through his arm. "Youch!"

Kahlua stood behind him, her right arm already changed to her signature wing-like blades. She had tried to chop the human in half, but the armor was tough enough to nearly stop the blade. She readied the blade again and swung for the head. Gungnir leapt between them and blocked the huge wing-blade with a small combat knife. Moka suddenly turned and ran off in the confusion.

Rodriguez sighed in frustration. "I'll go get her."

Akuha hopped onto a rooftop and noticed dozens of Fairy Tale helicopters passing by her. She readied more explosive arrows and began shooting them down. Three were blown to pieces before they stopped to look around. One of the pilots panicked as Akuha suddenly landed onto the front windshield of his helicopter. The hooded assassin raised her hand into the helicopter blades to slice them off with the Jigen-Tou.

Moka stopped to look as helicopters crashed onto the street nearby one-by-one, each making a huge fireball. At the sight of a Fairy Tale grunt behind her, she turned and ran up the stairs of a fire escape along the side of a building. Three stories up, another grunt stood in her way ready to grab her. Rodriguez suddenly burst out of the wall and tackled the grunt, falling off and landing onto the hood of a parked car. He shoved a pistol into the grunt's mouth and pulled the trigger rapidly.

From atop another rooftop, Akuha spotted Kahlua battling some kind of cyborg or armored man. The metal man twirled a combat knife in his hand like a propeller blade, blocking and dodging every swing from Kahlua's wing-blade. Though Akuha's initial instinct was to help her sister, she remembered they were enemies for the moment, and decided to just let them fight. Given Kahlua's fighting prowess, she'd probably be fine on her own anyways.

In the parking lot nearby, Rodriguez watched as transformed Fairy Tale grunts surrounded him and tried to charge him with their claws and teeth. "Is this one girl really worth risking the entire human race?" He brought out the AA-12 shotgun from his back and unleashed a barrage of ear-ringing high-explosive rounds, mowing them down in seconds. Arms, legs, and a lot of blood splatters lay everywhere.

Moka watched from the railing of the fire escape. "Everyone's fighting…" She gritted her teeth in despair. "If only I was my other self right now. I wouldn't be so helpless amidst all of this." She suddenly felt the stock of a rifle hit her on the back of the head. She fell over the railing and landed face-down onto the concrete below. She raised her head up and noticed a bit of her own blood running down the side of her face.

"You idiot! You're gonna kill her!" yelled a grunt.

A second grunt, the one that hit her, took aim at Moka's leg. "We just need her blood and for it to be fresh. I'm making sure she wont-" Both grunts were suddenly engulfed in a fiery explosion.

Rodriguez had his AA-12 aimed at where the two grunts were, but he hadn't fired. A black hooded figure suddenly fell from above and landed between him and Moka. "Well, looks like Fairy Tale sent the big guns now." Rodriguez thought to himself. He had seen tapes of her a hundred times. "Akuha Shuzen. Alias, the Black Devil." He tossed the AA-12 and put his fists up.

XXX

Dovah aren't given a name at birth, it must be earned. Their names were always comprised of three words in their native tongue, deriving from traits, accomplishments, and rarely, birthright, such as the first born of Akatosh.

Even as a hatchling, Yolnahbrii had shown to be exceptionally adept with the element fire, just as her father was adept with frost. It was through this that the first part of her name became 'yol', the Dovah word for 'fire'. "Yol… change given form, power at its most primal. Suleyk, power… I have it, as do all dov, but power is inert without choice and action. As the fire builds in my su'um… my breath… what will I burn? What will I spare? Su'um ahrk morah…"

XXX

"_Yol Toor Shul_!" The dragon unleashed a blast of fire.

Tsukune stomped the ground to loosen a slab of concrete and used it as a shield from the fire. He then kicked the red-hot stone at Yol.

"_Feim Zii Gron_." Yolnahbrii became transparent, like a ghost, and the stone passed straight through her.

"Cool," Tsukune whispered to himself, "that's almost like the Jigen-Tou."

Yolnahbrii became solid again and crawled toward him. "_Su Grah Dun_!" Her claws became enveloped in what looked like gusts of wind.

Tsukune readied himself for anything. Yol suddenly vanished from sight. "Huh?" He tried to feel her energy in case she had turned invisible. She most certainly wasn't in front of him, nor had she performed a teleport. She just moved really fast. "Omph!" From behind, she punched, stomped, and pounded him into the concrete.

The earpiece radio Yolnahbrii wore suddenly switched on. "Hey, lizard skank!"

Yol stopped beating on Tsukune and sighed. "What is it, Galvinro?" she asked reluctantly.

"My men are getting torn up. You and Kahlua are the only top-level fighters we have left, so fly your horny hide over here."

Yolnahbrii looked down at Tsukune, whom lay face-down a few inches into the ground. "But… the boy-"

"Finish him off if it's not much trouble, otherwise, forget him and get over here _now_!" The com-link switched off.

Yolnahbrii dwelled on her orders. It would take no more than a minute to just kill Tsukune. "Orin brit ro." She took off into the air and left him alive. "They need not know I could've finished him."

Tsukune slowly got up. "Ow…" He brushed some concrete dust off his face. "I was a goner. Why'd she just leave?" He noticed Yol flying off in the distance, toward where Moka was.

XXX

Kahlua swung her wing-blade as hard as she could, knocking Gungnir's combat knife away. In retreat, Gungnir used the reinforced strength from his armor to leap up onto a tall building behind him. Kahlua leapt after him. Gungnir stood waiting for her with a gun in each hand and fired both, one of them a grappling gun, the other a grenade launcher. Both went right over Kahlua's head.

Kahlua frowned. "I thought you Americans would have better aim."

The grenade launcher hit an empty neighboring building still under construction. The grappling hook latched onto the top part of the building as it started to tip over and fall. "I'm British you muppet." Gungnir attached the cable to the vampire's left arm.

Kahlua just stared at the cable with an almost-surprised look. "Oh…" The cable tightened and she zoomed off the roof. She shrieked like someone on a roller coaster, almost sounding as if she liked it.

Akuha wasn't really winning either. She could tell from the moment they started fighting that Rodriguez was experienced in boxing. Worse, Akuha was still drained from the Thu'um Yol had used on her earlier, and to top things off, Rodriguez seemed as familiar with her fighting style as she was. It was like had been studying her for a long time.

"You favor your right side," Rodriguez said, avoiding a Jigen-Tou slice with ease, "legs are strong, but you use them only for mobility." He watched his opponent charge him. "You attack with your arms because you favor accuracy over power." He used both hands to catch an incoming punch. "Reflexes and perception are perfect, making you impossible to flank. You're quite a fighter."

"Nice to know I've got another stalker." Akuha continued swinging the Jigen-Tou at him.

"We've studied _all_ the Fairy Tale big-shots so-" Rodriguez paused. "Wait, 'another'?" His sudden lack of focus nearly got him sliced. He dodged and retaliated with a punch.

Akuha flew back and landed next to Moka.

"Nee-sama." Moka crouched beside her. "Where is Tsukune?"

Akuha wiped a bit of blood off the side of her mouth. "I know you want to see him, but this really isn't the time."

"He can pull my rosary off." Moka tugged on the cross attached to her choker. "I want to help!"

Akuha _needed_ help. She stared at the rosary, remembering that only Tsukune could remove it. Still, the Jigen-Tou could cut anything, no matter what kind of magic was in play. "I could just slice it off…" Akuha thought, "it may never be reattached, but I never liked it anyways!"

Rodriguez landed both feet onto Akuha's flat chest, crushing her into the ground. "Your luck has run out, Black Devil!"

An enormous dragon suddenly landed both hind legs onto Rodriguez. Moka screamed in wild panic as Yolnahbrii grabbed her with her mouth and took to the air again.

Akuha and Rodriguez got up, looked at each other, and immediately pursued.

Yolnahbrii flew out of the dome and into the giant highway tunnel connected to it. Unlike the mostly vacant dome, the highways were brimming with activity. Countless cars drove both directions on the busy streets. Yolnahbrii melded into the air traffic above, blending in with griffins, harpies, and many other flying yōkai. A number of 'omphs' and 'ows' were heard behind her, sounding as if they were getting closer.

Gungnir leapt off the backs of different fliers and landed onto the front of Yol's head. He grabbed her jaws and pried them open, causing them to drop Moka.

Moka reached upward as she fell. "_Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh_!"

Gungnir slapped sticky explosives onto Yol's face and dropped after Moka. He caught her and opened a parachute as the dragon was enveloped in an explosion above him. They gently sailed downward and landed onto a moving semi-truck.

Moka knelt down, breathing hard. "We've got to get out of here."

"Don't worry." Gungnir looked around the packed, speedy highways. Being spotted would be like finding a needle in a haystack. "They won't find us by conventional means."

"I'm not worried about that." Moka examined a car on the nearby lane. Through the windows was a man, his wife, and two kids. "There's people everywhere! I don't want them hurt on my behalf!"

Gungnir lifted an eyebrow behind his helmet. The first thing on the girl's mind was the safety of others. "Alright." He smiled. "Just don't run off again."

Akuha came sprinting between the cars, having tracked Moka with energy detection. She leapt to the truck, attempting to use the Jigen-tou right away. Gungnir grabbed her arm, twisted it, and punched her across the face.

Moka reached toward them. "No! Stop fighting!"

Akuha and Gungnir both started toward each other, froze in place, then went back to fighting anyways, thinking it was better to just ask questions later. Rodriguez suddenly struck Akuha from behind, knocking her toward his superior, whom in turn punched her back to him. They began knocking her back and forth, up and down the truck like she were a ping-pong ball.

As Moka struggled to hold on, she noticed Kahlua, her infinitely obedient sister, standing on a nearby car watching them. Kahlua frowned miserably, but moved with her best effort nonetheless.

Rodriguez ducked under Kahlua's wing-blade as she flew over his shoulder. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her onto the truck beside him. "Payback blondey!"

Kahlua blinked. "Have we met?" She stood up.

"Not us. Someone I knew."

With Kahlua and Rodriguez fighting near the back of the truck, Akuha stood near the front, wounded, tired, before a skilled opponent, and with wind blowing at her face at eighty miles an hour. Fighting would get her nowhere. Maybe should could just grab Moka and run? No, with her blurry vision and lack of stamina even that didn't seem viable. "I guess there's no other choice." She pulled out a syringe and stabbed it into her wrist.

Kahlua raised her wing-blade. "Sorry about this…" she said apologetically.

"Sorry?" Rodriguez moved his head back. The very tip of the blade scratched along his helmet. "You're not sorry. You'd kill your own sisters if you were asked to."

Tears flowed from Kahlua's eyes as she continued swinging her wing-blade. "I'm only trying to be a good daughter…"

"Phft." Rodriguez spat. "You're not Gyokuro's daughter. You're her dog!"

Kahlua's frown sunk even lower. "You're so mean!"

Akuha felt her arms and legs shaking uncontrollably. She had just taken the very substance Talia used on the Yōkai Academy student body, and Kahlua had used on herself a month ago. A few unused syringes had been found lying around during Tsukune's training. Akuha suddenly punched Gungnir faster than anyone could see, feeling her own bones nearly breaking, but without any pain. Gungnir flew far ahead and landed kneeling on a car-roof. Akuha channeled more energy through her right arm, not creating more raw strength, but giving it solid shape. A black, elongated double-ended blade formed from her hand to her elbow, turning her arm into a giant razor sharp cutting machine, identical to the one Alistair had once used against her. Akuha swung the blade around toward the other two combatants on the truck.

Rodriguez stepped back and avoided the blade. Kahlua however tried to block it, but her wing-blade was instantly shattered like glass, causing her to fall over. Rodriguez rushed forward for a punch, but Akuha caught his fist in her left hand and crushed it in her grasp. Making an uncharacteristic laugh, she tossed him aside into traffic moving the other way. Another semi-truck smashed into Rodriguez and sent him flying to the sidewalk, not dead, but his suit too damaged for him to stay in the fight.

Akuha's eyes were bloodshot beneath her hood. "I should use this stuff more often!" she yelled psychotically. She no longer bore the calm, focused look she usually sported. In its place was a frightening, bloodthirsty smile.

Gungnir landed back on the truck and pulled out another combat knife. He dodged Akuha's arm-blade and stabbed her in the throat. Upon pulling the knife back, Akuha's throat seemed to heal instantly. Gungnir dodged again and stabbed her in the heart, but it had no effect either. Seeing that stabbing her was pointless, he chopped off her entire right arm. The blood veins from her arm suddenly shot out and reattached the limb. There wasn't even a trace of it being severed in the first place.

"Oh bugga'…" Gungnir said in surprise.

Moka gave the fighters an uneasy look. Akuha was her sister, but she was going crazy. Gungnir seemed to mean well, but much of him was still a mystery. Kahlua was another beloved sister, but she was fighting for Fairy Tale. Between each of them, Moka wasn't sure who to root for.

Kahlua roundhouse-kicked Akuha in the head, causing her neck to dislocate. Her bones made a gruesome snapping noise as they immediately relocated. Gungnir then tackled her headfirst with both hands, attempting to push her off. When she only slid a few feet, he resorted to a suplex, lifting her up and driving her head behind him into the truck.

Akuha pulled her head from the gaping hole with a one-handed handstand and pushed off the truck, propelling herself high in the air. She flipped forward and smashed her arm-blade onto the truck, splitting in two. Kahlua tumbled away with the back half as it lobbed into the cars behind it, causing a notable traffic pileup that soon faded in the distance. The front half scraped over the road, creating a fountain of sparks before falling over.

A screaming Moka went flying off the wreckage at eighty miles per hour, coming only an inch from the ground before Gungnir caught her and grabbed onto the side of a trailer that was still moving.

Akuha landed on a car across from them.

"You nearly killed your own sister you bloody psychopath!" Gungnir shouted at her.

Akuha didn't hear him. The only thought crossing her mind was the desire to gut him.

Gungnir climbed onto the roof of the trailer and pulled Moka up, just as Akuha leapt at them like a pouncing lion. Gungnir could dodge the attack, but doing so would condemn anyone inside the trailer. He caught the blade instead, with it partially sliced into his shoulder. Akuha threw him down and raised her blade to execute him.

"Don't kill him!" Moka screamed, grabbing her sister's left arm.

Akuha swung the blade around, stopping it an inch before Moka's neck. Akuha's eyes went wide when she realized of what she'd almost done. She suddenly vomited blood onto the trailer roof as the drug began to wear off.

Gungnir rose up and grabbed Akuha. Instead of a violent toss like she expected, he gently dropped her off onto the nearby sidewalk. "For the life of me, I can't see how you and this girl are sisters."

Akuha lay there, not getting up, as the trailer drove off.

XXX

Further down the highway tunnel was a cross with another tunnel. As freeway traffic was too fast for an intersection, the road came to a bridge half a mile above the other tunnel's road that curved under it.

"Can't you idiots do anything right?" Galvinro shouted on the radio, "The Black Devil and her friends have taken the V. I. P. completely off the grid!"

A dozen helicopters flew from the intersecting tunnel toward the massive bridge. "Orders sir?" a pilot asked on the radio.

"Blow that bridge to hell. We at least know they're coming this way, so they're bound to reach it sooner or later. It should be more than easy to spot them then."

"Confirmed. Targeting systems primed." The helicopters released a barrage of rockets at the bridge and everyone on it. "Let's make the fat lady sing fellas!" Buses capsized and pieces of the bridge crumbled off.

XXX

Gungnir sat down on the trailer roof, his left hand over his other shoulder. His entire right arm dangled lifelessly. "Hmp, it's deadweight now." He brought out a first-aid-kit from one of his suit's pouches. "I hear mechanical limbs aren't _too_ bad."

Moka knelt beside him and opened the first-aid-kit for him, attempting to tend to his wound.

"You don't know a thing about me." Gungnir said to her, "Are you sure you want to help me?"

Moka paused for a moment. "I'm sure you mean well."

An exhausted Tsukune finally caught up to them and landed on the trailer roof. "Moka!" he yelled.

Moka's eyes lit up in surprise. "Tsukune?" She got up and ran to him. "Tsukune!" They embraced each other. "I knew you'd come!"

"I take it this man isn't with Fairy Tale." Gungnir asked.

"Of course I'm not!" Tsukune said strongly, "Not those genocidal maniacs!"

"Wait a minute…" Gungnir looked hard at him. "You're _human_?"

They were interrupted by the sounds of explosions ahead of them. Helicopters were firing at an upcoming bridge in an attempt to destroy it. One of the helicopters branched off and started flying toward them, apparently having spotted them, and fired a rocket their way. Gungnir got up and caught the rocket dead in his left hand, throwing it back at the helicopter and destroying it, but not before it fired a second rocket. The rocket hit a front wheel of the trailer, causing it to fall over and crash at the foot of the bridge.

XXX

"Tsukune, wake up!"

Tsukune opened his eyes after having blacked out, seeing Moka kneeling over him. "Ouch…" He sat up and brushed the back of his head. "Dang that hur-" He gasped at the sight of hundreds of cars burning, flipped, crushed. "How could they do such a thing?"

Moka looked to the trailer they had been riding on before. Under it was a car with people still inside, calling for help. The doors seemed to be stuck, and the car was slowly flattening under the trailer's weight.

Tsukune looked from the car back to Moka. "But… I need to get you out of here. Fairy Tale-"

"_I'm_ fine!" Moka declared. She pointed at the car. "Help them!"

Tsukune ran over to the car and ripped the door off with one hand. A family of four crawled out. By the way they were dressed, they probably just tourists taking a vacation here. Tsukune gazed over the pileups and wreckage all over the bridge. The helicopters were gone, but a lot of people were in distress. He wasn't sure he could save them all.

A chunk of the bridge's side had fallen off and cars were leaning over the edge. A large traffic jam had formed on the streets below, as no one dared drive under all the falling debris.

Tsukune grabbed a car's rear bumper a moment before it slid off and pulled it back onto the bridge. The passengers got out on their own as another car was already tipping over. His eyes widened as it fell before he could reach it, until it suddenly halted as if someone caught it.

"I got this, kid." Gungnir said, holding onto the car with only his left hand, "Get them out of there!"

Tsukune looked at the soldier, unsure, but finally nodded and ran to the car. He opened a passenger door and helped the people out. The moment it was empty, Gungnir released it and fell on his back, letting it fall to the streets below.

"The wreckage is far worse up ahead." Gungnir said, shaking his tired left arm, "They're gonna need at least _one_ person with both arms. C'mon!"

Tsukune and Gungnir ran across the bridge, ripping off car doors that were stuck and uncovering cars that were buried under other cars. Civilians ran the other way trying to get off the unstable bridge, save for a man panicking at the foot of his car.

"Is someone still in there?" Tsukune asked the trembling man.

"My _caaaaaaaaaaaar_!" he screamed.

Tsukune looked through the window and saw that it was empty. He turned and continued on.

Things were especially bad along the middle of the bridge. Many cars were still burning and the place smelled of gasoline. While the people had already mostly cleared out, there was a flaming bus partially covered in crashed cars, full of passengers pushing on the doors and windows.

"Hang on!" Tsukune shouted, "I'm gonna get you out of-" He was interrupted by a loud dragon roar, followed by Yolnahbrii flying over and past him. She flew around and seemed to begin dive-bombing toward him. "Uh oh." Tsukune ran toward the bus as fast as he could, but the road was crumbling beneath him. The concrete under the bus suddenly gave way. "_No_!" The bus fell down the newly made hole.

Yolnahbrii flew down and caught the bus with her hind talons. Flapping her wings hard, she gently lowered the bus onto a sturdier part of the bridge. "Help them! Volaan!"

Tsukune tore the backside of the bus off. "You're not attacking me?"

"I've been ordered to retrieve the girl," Yol said, helping a person out of a flipped car, "not to kill innocent people."

"Hmm, you're not what I expected of a big scary dragon."

"Reasonably so." Gungnir came forward. "After all, the will to dominate runs through a Dovah's blood doesn't it?"

Yol nodded. "Geh, but I have overcome my inborn nature through meditation and study of the 'Way of The Voice'. Onikaan krif horvut se suleyk."

At the sound of the bridge crumbling further, Tsukune, Gungnir, and Yol quickly moved to save everyone they could, working as a team, not fighting.

XXX

Moka came running down the ruined bridge. Burning debris lay everywhere, but it was quiet now. "Tsukune?" she called, "Tsukune where-" She came around a truck, freezing in place when she saw the dragon that had grabbed her earlier.

Tsukune sat down onto the bridge, out of breath, but satisfied he and his associates had gotten everyone to safety. "We actually made a pretty good team." He noticed Moka watching them. "Hey Moka." He motioned her to come forward. "It's alright now. No one here is gonna attack you." He turned toward Yol. "Or at least, you said you wouldn't."

Yol gave a nod. "I believe in civility between seasoned warriors."

Moka walked forward cautiously and hid behind Tsukune. She felt a little better when she noticed that the human soldier was here too.

Gungnir rested his back against a lamppost. He seemed to be having back-pain. "I'm getting too old for this." he groaned, "I've said it _many_ times before, but this is _absolutely_ the _last_ time they bring me out of retirement!"

The four of them laughed together.

"You guys aren't so bad." Tsukune said, "Why were we fighting anyways?"

"Me and you never fought directly," Gungnir said, "but I expected any non-civilian mates down here to be Fairy Tale, not an additional group that also had beef with em'."

"What about you?" Moka asked Yol, "You really _are_ with Fairy Tale."

Yol closed her eyes and sank her head down. Whether it was out of shame or to think of a response was unclear.

Gungnir stood up. "Whatever the case, we need to get off this bridge. There's still-" A hand suddenly stabbed through his back and out his chest. Tsukune, Moka, and Yol drew back, startled as they watched him fall over, revealing a one-armed Raika behind him.

Raika shook the blood off his arm. "No one stands in our way for long."

Gungnir rolled over and stared back at his attacker. "There will always be someone…" he chocked, "willing to do the right thing."

Tsukune sprung forward to stop Raika, but Raika moved too fast for him to see and shoved him aside. It didn't hurt much, Raika was weak, but quicker than a werewolf under the full moon.

Moka squealed as Raika grabbed her, covered her mouth, and appeared beside Yol with her.

"Consorting with Fairy Tale's enemies, Yol?" Raika asked with disgust.

"But…" Yol opened her wings a little, as if gesturing. "There were people-"

"A good deed from a good Samaritan." Raika mocked. He then raised his head toward Tsukune. "Now destroy him."

Yol gave an unwilling and dejected stare.

"Would you rather I tell Gyokuro about your disobedience? No? Then be done with it already!"

Tsukune cursed himself as he watched Raika take off with his captive. "Why do I never think things through?" Tsukune hissed, "Maybe I could've removed Moka's seal earlier. She wouldn't have been so defenseless then."

Yol came at Tsukune as if she were going to attack, but with no intention of harming him. "Maybe I could just mock-fight him until Raika is long gone, then I can help the boy find his friend again."

Tsukune drew his fist back with a look of rage on his face. Moka had been beside him a mere minute ago, but now, after all the trouble he had to go through, she was gone again. He looked at Gungnir's corpse and couldn't remember the last time he had felt so angry. Just as he and Yol clashed, his arm turned jet-black. Red glowing crevices ran through it like the surface of an erupting volcano. It was the very power he had tapped into when fighting the Capricorns back at Yōkai Academy. His fist struck Yol's skull with a force a million-times that of his earlier blows. A tremendous shock wave erupted, causing the unstable bridge to collapse, sending cars flying off for miles around, and cracking the glass ceiling above.

Tsukune flew backwards like a rag-doll and landed an inch from the edge to where the bridge had been. Perhaps that freakish power is triggered by rage? He shook off his dizziness and stood up.

Yol fell down to the streets below, landing in the rubble. Her neck was snapped and she wasn't getting up.

"I killed her…" Tsukune sank to his knees. "I didn't mean to…" He stared in horror at what he had done, not sure why he was feeling grief. He couldn't have thought of her as a friend could he? He hardly knew her. Still… he wished he had, and now… he never will.

"Yes," came a feminine voice, "you killed her."

Tsukune flinched and swung around. He recognized that voice in an instant.

Talia sat at the top of a lamppost, looking down at him with a rather blank look. "How uncharacteristic of you."

Tsukune bent his head down and exhaled. "I guess it had to happen sooner or later. She was apart of Fairy Tale."

"No, she was _never_ apart of Fairy Tale."

"What?" Tsukune shot back in surprise.

Talia folded a leg over the other. "Gyokuro had her poor little sister abducted, and blackmailed her to work for them or they'd liquidate the child."

Tsukune gritted his teeth and tightened his fists. "Then after I rescue Moka, I'm going after Yol's sister! I owe her that much."

"Sorry sweetie, but I'm afraid that cannot be done."

"Why not?" Tsukune shouted.

"Because Yolnahbrii's beloved sister has been dead for months. Fairy Tale just never told her." Talia leaned forward. "The penalty for doing so was death."

Tsukune felt his eyes water. He knelt over with his shacking palms on the ground. "How could anyone treat a person like that?"

Talia gently floated down and landed cross-legged in front of him. "There there…" She patted him on the shoulder. "Yolnahbrii's passing may be somber, but there are those whom may soon follow her."

Tsukune sprung up. "Moka!"

"She is not the only one."

It took Tsukune a moment to realize whom Talia meant. "Akuha…" He could sense his teacher's energy still where Gungnir had left her, and it was fading.

"You could say…" Talia tilted her head. "She and the people of this city are due for a reckoning."

Tsukune looked from over the gap, to back the way he had come from. Moka, whom was long gone and out of sight, or Akuha, whom seemed to be in a more immediate danger. "Dammit." He turned back.

Talia watched as Tsukune hurried down the road. "Always in such a rush…"

A crowd of people were gathering around where an unhooded Akuha lay, and they didn't look happy.

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**How was that for the first 'fight chapter'?**


	8. Chpt 8: Cold Logic

PopthePuff said: "Hmm, its a bit different and a bit too OC filled"

**That's very true, but I got tired of being restricted to only canon characters and settings. I was expecting some amount of criticism for this move, but I wanted to make a story that was more 'my own' and I do this mostly for fun anyways.**

* * *

**Highway Tunnel**

A man dumped a pail of purified water over Akuha. "How do you feel when _you're_ the one that's weak and helpless?" He stood over her and swung a shovel at her face like a baseball bat. "At least look at me, Devil! It's more than what you allowed for my wife!" He swung the shovel again. "Look at me dammit! Look me right in the eye!"

Akuha's eyes remained closed as she was smacked with the shovel again.

"Four years…" said the man, "for four years I wondered what kind of person could kill a thousand people like that." He hit her again. "Is this it? You're the one we've been so afraid of?"

Tsukune hurried toward the crowd, tripping over something and falling on his face. "Ouch…" He looked back and spotted Akuha's compound bow lying there on the street. He grabbed it, hung it over his shoulder, and continued toward the crowd. He pushed through the mob as gently as he could, until he came to the sight of a man beating an unconscious Akuha with a shovel. "Stop!" Tsukune yelled. He came from the crowd and into plain sight. "That's enough!"

"Stop?" The man looked over at Tsukune. "Do you even know who this is?" he shouted, "All the horrible things she's done?"

"Yeah, I know…" Tsukune said, remembering what Rukt had told him, "She brought the flooding of an entire district. Killed twelve-hundred people or so…"

The man nodded. "Some were lucky to be at work that day." A look of pure rage spread across his face. "We lost homes, friends," he began to cry, "families! For no reason other than that we're human!"

Tsukune stepped forward. "_I'm_ human!" he declared, "and she is my friend!"

"I don't care if you're human or just desperate." The man raised the tip of the shovel over Akuha's face. "The Black Devil is nothing but a killer and she needs to pay!"

"Akuha is plenty guilty, I can't deny that, but her sister is innocent! She's only trying to save her!"

"You really think you'll convince anyone that this monster's loved one is worth thousands of ours?!"

Tsukune looked from the man, to Akuha, and to the people watching around them. He let out a hefty sigh. "Four years ago Akuha was just following orders, orders from the organization she is _now_ fighting against. Since the day I met her she's only tried to _make up_ for all terrible things she's done. She's changed, I mean it!" He spread his arms out as he shouted. "She's trying to save lives! Isn't that a more fitting atonement than just giving up her own?"

"You're quite a talker, kid." The man brought up his shovel. "But the only thing you've got is your word."

"Please!" Tsukune fell to his knees and begged. "If you kill her, _more_ good people will die! Good people like your wife!"

The man showed a hint of both anger and hesitation.

"I'm not asking you to forgive Akuha… just…" Tsukune exhaled. "You don't have to become a killer like her." He thought of Yol. "Or me." He had said everything he could think of. It was the best he could do on such short notice, but it didn't feel like it was enough. "Ooph!" Something suddenly crashed into him. He looked to see that the man had thrown Akuha at his face. "Huh?"

The man made a cruel look at him. "Take your 'friend', leave this place, and don't ever let me see her again."

Tsukune was shocked, but not about to complain. He placed Akuha onto his back in a piggy-back fashion and looked around. The crowd didn't seem to approve of letting Akuha go and were getting restless. One of them came charging with a baseball bat screaming on top of his lungs. Tsukune leapt up high and landed outside the crowd. A few people began to pursue, but Tsukune had already sped down the street like a rocket.

XXX

**Trofimov Manor**

Akuha awoke to the blurry sight of a white ceiling passing over her. She heard voices, but they sounded too muffled to make out. She was lying on a wheeled hospital bed getting pulled along by four people. One of them was Tsukune. They hurried through the hallways under loud commotion.

"What happened?" came Vicky's voice, "What could've done this to Akuha Shuzen of all people?!"

"Later," said Tsukune, "Get your best doctors, fast!"

Akuha blacked out and back in to find herself in a room filled with medical equipment and maybe thirty people. She was too dizzy and confused to know how much time had passed. She felt like she was in a twisted dream.

"A shard from a knife is in her heart." said whom was probably one of the doctors.

"Thirty percent of her blood just vanished from her bloodstream."

"Not a bone in her body is broken, but every one of them looks like they're about to."

"Her body's been simultaneously damaging and healing itself. Her vital organs are so worn down and torn up…"

Everything began to fade away.

"We're losing her!" They placed something onto their patient's bare chest. "Charging. Three, two, one, clear!"

Akuha felt an electric shock followed by a rush of consciousness that quickly faded again.

XXX

Tsukune stood before a furnace of the house, staring at the half-dozen syringes in his hand. These were the drugs that made Yōkai Academy tare itself apart, and Akuha had been carrying them around the whole time. He threw them into the furnace and watched them burn. He didn't care if Akuha would be angry with him. He never wanted her to use one on herself ever again. He walked away with the fire crackling behind him. "Why did you go so far, Akuha? You do this to yourself just to win a fight?"

"It didn't come from my tutoring if that's what you're thinking."

Tsukune stopped and looked up to see Rukt standing in front of him. "Then why does she always try to kill herself like she enjoys it?"

"The instinct to win a battle is stronger in her than in any other vampire I've seen." Rukt explained, "There's never a moment when she's not prepared to take whatever risk or make whatever sacrifice necessary, be it her pride, her body, her life, for any fight whether it's important or not. The only rule she makes for herself is that anything she puts on the line must be her's and only her's."

"But doesn't she realize what her death would do to her friends and family? We'd be devastated."

"Why do you think she's distanced herself before all this Fairy Tale trouble began? She still loves her sisters, but she's been trying to shed her sentimental side over the last seven years."

"You sure you don't mean 'four' years?"

"It was a separate instance." Rukt shrugged. "_Seven_ years ago she spared an assassination target for personal reasons. I don't think she regrets it, but ever since she's identified emotion as a sign of weakness."

Tsukune wasn't in high spirits, and just stood there staring at the floor. "She believes cold logic is the only way to get results…"

"And yet she left Fairy Tale in favor of friends and a family member, an emotional decision entirely." Rukt shook his head. "I don't think she regrets this either, but she fears her attachment to others is holding her back."

"Yeah, and look where disregarding her own safety got her. She goes over the edge, and now she's out of commission, I'm on my own, and Moka's still held captive." Tsukune eyed the huge mallet on Rukt's back. "You're big and tough. Can't _you_ help me fight Fairy Tale?"

Rukt grounded the base of his hammer like a walking-stick. "I'm afraid not. While I am not the leader of this enterprise, I am still considered the face of it. Eyes are always on me. If seen blatantly involved with what seems like underground mob violence, it could hurt our credibility and lead to Hrothmund gaining even more control over the city."

"But there has to be something you can do."

"I cannot aid you directly, but name any weapon, armor, or equipment and it's yours. Our armory is at your disposal."

"Well, it's a start." Tsukune shrugged. "I hope you've got plenty of blunt weapons, cause I'm not looking to kill anyone."

"I also have a technique I could teach you. It's easy to learn, hard to master, but even at its most primitive state, it can be quite effective."

XXX

**Two Days Ago**** – ****Clothes Store**

"Mhmm," Talia chirped, "all done!"

Kahlua seemed every bit as happy. "Aww… you look simply adorable now." She pushed a mirror in front of Yolnahbrii.

Yol blushed at the sight of herself sitting on a stool. Twenty minutes ago she was wearing torn street clothes. Now, between the gorgeous pink dress, rose in her hair, and chain-braids Talia had just finished, she had gone from looking like a pauper to a princess. She put her hand to her own cheek and smiled. "Morokei! I look like real lady now," she stuttered, "like the both of you!"

Talia giggled. "It was hardly a bother." She put her arms around Yol's neck from behind and brushed her chin with the tip of her finger. "You have such delicate features."

Yolnahbrii made a sheepish, nervous smile and her face flushed even more.

"Maybe she's a little _too_ pretty now?" Kahlua said jokingly, "She's falling for herself." She comically flicked the tip of Yol's nose.

Yol's nose twitched a little. "Aaaaaaaa_choooo_!" She unleashed a fiery sneeze, covering Kahlua's face entirely in charcoal. "Krosis! Krosis!" she yelled in apology.

Kahlua stared with her eyes wide open, blinking twice, before she and Talia exploded in laughter.

XXX

After getting Kahlua's face cleaned off and paying for the new dress, the three finely clothed young girls strolled out of the clothes store. They already seemed to be getting attention from boys their age.

Yol tapped the tips of her newly purchased heeled-boots to the ground to get them on properly. They were the same as Talia's and Kahlua's, save for the color, seeing as how slippers or stilettos were unsuited for her line of work. "I've never worn heels before." she whispered timidly. She suddenly slipped and fell forward. "Ooph!"

"Oh." came Talia's voice, "Yolnahbrii, are you alright?"

Yol picked herself up. "I'm Fine, I didn't feel a-" She noticed that her forehead had split a concrete bench in half. "-thing… whoops." She nervously stepped away from the bench and her friends followed, moving by the many stores along the side of the tunnel. "So ah… where to now?" she asked eagerly, "A pet shop? A spa?"

"How about a jewelry store?" Kahlua cheered, "I mean we already bought you a dress. Why stop there?"

"Drehni laan zok. No thanks." Yol said modestly. "I think the dress is quite lovely on its own." She made a queasy smile. "Anything more would be pushing it."

"Nonsense!" Kahlua grinned. "It's our treat anyways. Just let us get you something."

"No, really." Yol said with a laugh, "I'm not interested in jewelry. This dress alone is enough."

Talia plucked a loose feather from herself and inspected it. "Just take a trinket or two for Shulnahviing. You mentioned that she likes pretty rocks once or twice."

"Mmm…" Yol put a finger to her chin. "Abniik." She nodded. "If you both insist so much."

Kahlua looked confused. "Sholawhat? Who's that?"

"Rekii mal briinah-" Yol paused and slapped herself on the forehead. "I mean, Shulnahviing is my little sister."

Kahlua came to a sudden halt. The other girls noticed and stopped as well. "Oh…" Her smile faded. She sounded a little gloomy. "Ah… erm…"

Yol looked at her curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh…" Kahlua forced a big smile. "No."

Yol's blank stare made it clear she wasn't convinced. "Nokke. There's something you're not telling me." She frowned. "And it's something to do with my sister."

Kahlua scratched her head and looked away. Being Gyokuro's daughter, she was one of the few who knew Yol's sister was already… "Well, I'm not really allowed to talk about that."

"Oh… right…" Yol let out a long, dreary, and smoky sigh. "You're both members of Fairy Tale." She had been having so much fun that… "I had forgotten." She turned and continued to walk down the sidewalk on her own.

Kahlua nearly walked after Yol to say something to her, but… "Mommy told me not to."

Talia tossed her black feather aside and watched it fly away. "Must thinking for yourself remain so difficult for you?"

"Regardless, I can't just tell her…" Kahlua stopped mid-sentence. She knew she was to tell no one.

"Tell her what?" Talia leaned over to Kahlua's ear. "That Shulnahviing is dead?"

Kahlua shot Talia a look. "You're not supposed to know that!"

"You think it wasn't obvious? Such a deed would fit your mother's character."

Yol stared at the ground with a gloomy look as she walked over it. The day her sister was abducted was the first time they'd ever been apart since the girl was born. They didn't actually get along as well as one would expect, Shul never shut up and routinely drove her crazy, but she still loved her. Right now, there was nothing more irritating than the absence of her constant chattering.

"Wait up, Yol!" Kahlua caught up to her. Both girls stood where they were. "I'm sorry about your sister," She put her hand on her shoulder. "But that shouldn't stop us from being friends."

For a moment Yol said nothing. "Kahlua, you have a sister too, right?"

"Yeah," Kahlua nodded, "three actually."

"Do you love your sisters?" Yol looked at her grievously. "Do you love them so much, you'd do anything to protect them?"

"Well…" Kahlua thought of each sister. Akuha was tough and could look after herself no problem. Moka and Kokoa however were more vulnerable, the former being sealed up and the latter being young and inexperienced. "I think so."

Yol closed her eyes and sank her head down. "I have come to believe that Fairy Tale will _never_ honor their promise to release Shulnahviing, but bloodlines are all I have left." Her head sunk lower. "I could just leave and have my freedom any time, but doing so would condemn my sister." She tightened her fists, more in frustration than anger. "Those tahrodiis vithhe never let me see her! For all I know she may already be gone." She relaxed herself and folded her arms. "Cold logic says I should leave, but there's still that small chance Shulnahviing is alright."

Kahlua started to sweat as she remained silent. She wanted to tell her so badly.

"Briinah lok stinselok. I guess I value my sister over freedom."

"And what of you, Kahlua?" Talia suddenly spoke, "What do _you_ value more? Your own sisters," her tone darkened, "or your mother's approval?" The other girls both looked at her.

"What?" said Kahlua.

"If it came to it once again, would you harm your sisters if Gyokuro ordered it?"

Kahlua frowned. Normally this question would've offended her, but she had already done so when told to. Absolute obedience was all she knew. It's how her mother raised her. "Well… I wouldn't like doing it."

"Merely shedding tears of atonement would make no difference." Talia made a confrontational glare at Kahlua. "Harming another is what it is."

Realizing that Talia wasn't letting this go, Kahlua returned the glare. "Is it really your place to be speaking of this?"

Yol nervously looked from Talia to Kahlua. Such a weak yōkai challenging a vampire probably wasn't going to end well.

"Crude," Talia calmly stared Kahlua in the eye, "but is it not necessary? While we dawdle about, your younger sister is being held against her will, your elder sister is coming for her, and _you_ are here to stop her. If you've yet to decide what means more to you, you will _very_ soon," she put her hands on her hips, "under _much_ cruder circumstances."

Kahlua made a lousy sigh. "Well, I guess you have a point." She thought of all the good times she and her sisters had shared. The four of them cuddling together on a couch under a blanket to stay warm came to mind. She thought of the training her mother had given _only_ to her, an education befitting of an emperor, and the pride of being a Shuzen. "But I really don't know. Not liking an action and not doing it are two completely different things."

"Kahlua," Yol said, "You wouldn't harm me if you were told to, right? Mu kos fahdonne. We're friends."

Kahlua made a friendly smile to her. "Of course I wouldn't." she laughed, "I'd never dream of it."

XXX

**Present Time**

Two lone Fairy Tale soldiers hiked over the rubble and smashed cars. Past the next hill of concrete was Yolnahbrii, lying there quietly. "There she is. Finally." said one of the soldiers.

The other soldier gave a low whistle. "Wow, killing her is no small feat."

"I heard the Black Devil had some help. Human special forces, believe it or not."

The second soldier took a long look at Yol. Though she seemed dead, something about the last expression she had made, still frozen on her face now, cried of regret, as if she had unfinished business. "Poor girl." the soldier said, "Well, at least she's with her sis now."

"Not yet she isn't." said the first soldier.

"Eh?"

"She's only _temporarily_ dead. You see, dragons are meant to be immortal. Kill em' and they'll just regenerate, given enough time." The soldier brought out a small 'crystal ball'-like object that shined with a golden light. "The only way to kill one permanently is to have its soul absorbed by another dragon."

"Or that substitute you're holding?"

"This here is the real deal. The gold shiny stuff inside is a dragon soul, and it can absorb other dragon souls." He walked over to Yol's body and held the orb forward. "It's already been used on her sister. I guess Gyokuro doesn't want to risk letting her find out, so she wants her gone while she's already down."

"What a waste of a strong yōkai. She was real pretty too."

Yolnahbrii suddenly made a loud gasp for air as she reached toward the soldiers with her right wing. "_Briinah_…"

"Whoa!" The second soldier leapt back. "She's alive!" he screamed, "As in _alive_ alive!"

Though alive, the wounds Yol had suffered had taken their toll. She collapsed and remained almost motionless. Breathing was the only movement she made.

"Kill it! Kill it!" yelled soldier holding the orb, "It doesn't work on dragons that are dy_ing_!"

"How? Those scales are practically bulletproof."

Another set of footsteps were heard behind them. "They're _bomb_proof." Kahlua walked between the soldiers and approached Yol, tears flowing down her face. "It would take something like a vampire to penetrate it."

Yol slowly raised her head and opened her eyes. "Fahdon?" she whispered softly.

Kahlua nodded. "I'm sorry Yolnahbrii." Without a moment of hesitation, her arm morphed into a wing-blade and stabbed Yol through the throat.

The young Dovah fell. Seconds later, what looked like a gust of golden wind emerged from her body and flowed into the orb one of the soldiers held. Her skin burnt away and slowly dissolved until only a barren skeleton remained. The gold wind subsided.

"So…" The second soldier inspected the orb. "_Now_ she's reunited with her sister?"

"Yep." The other soldier nodded. "Inside this piece of glass."

Kahlua looked over Yol's skeleton. Though she held a calm, sad face at first, it quickly crumbled in a river of tears as she cried aloud.

XXX

**Manor Training Room**

A miniature black hole the size of a bowling ball floated in the middle of the room. Bolts of electricity erupted from where it hung until it suddenly exploded with surprising force.

"Wow," Tsukune said with his hands still forward, "that _was_ easy. I hardly broke a sweat." His left hand was shrouded in energy from the vampire blood in his veins, while he wore a glowing gold gauntlet on his right. The gauntlet shined as bright as the sun.

Rukt stood behind him, watching with his arms crossed. "All there is to it is focusing on the place you want it, then channeling the two opposite energies. The dark energy of a vampire, and the holy energy which that hunk of metal is enchanted with. The energies clash head on, building up in a vortex until you release them."

"What's this technique called?"

Rukt shrugged. "A vortex."

Tsukune gave an unamused look.

"What? Does it need to have some fancy name? Call it what you want, but it is what it is."

Tsukune created another vortex twenty feet in front of himself and tried to hold it there. "How powerful can this thing get?"

"At full strength it can level a mountain, but at this size…" Rukt looked hard at the puny little vortex. "It should break through concrete at least." He sat down onto his gigantic armchair. "I know you don't want to kill anyone, but you'll need this to take on stronger, more experienced opponents."

Tsukune drew the vortex toward himself, caught it, and tossed it at a training dummy. The dummy was immediately blown out of existence in a flashy display of lightning. "I'll try using this only as a last resort."

"Try using it only on those that deserve it."

XXX

**Hrothmund's Manor**

It was always somewhat dark in the hidden laboratory. The only lights were the creature tanks and computer screens. Members of Fairy Tale and Hrothmund's employees alike worked together in the darkness. Hrothmund himself sat with the cheek of his helmet resting against his fist in front of a large monitor, displaying blueprints of Moka's seal. It was more complex than anything he had worked on before, but still within the domain of his resources. It would take time, but before long they would be able to remove the seal without breaking it.

"Excuse me sir." said one of the servants.

Hrothmund kept his eyes on the screen. "Yes, what is it?"

"There is a visitor waiting for you at the entrance hall."

"I'm little busy at the moment."

"Believe me, this is definitely someone you'll want to see."

Hrothmund exhaled out of impatience and stood up. He strode over to the elevator and rode it back to the base-floor. After arriving at the entrance hall, he was genuinely surprised to see whom was waiting for him. "Viktoriya," he said humbly, "what brings you here?"

"Umm…" Vicky grinned and tried to make something up. "Just… saying… hi?"

Hrothmund made an amused chuckle. "Come now, I doubt an appetite for small talk is what brought you halfway across the city. Does Rukt even know you're here?"

"Ye… no." Vicky lied, unable to keep a straight face. "I sorta ditched him. He never lets me do anything fun."

Hrothmund smiled under his helmet. "Ah, you remind me so much of a friend I once knew."

XXX

The gardens surrounding the manor were teaming with patrols of armed Fairy Tale soldiers. The battle on the freeway made it clear there were people in the city trying to stop them, so tighter security was to be expected. A lone figure walked along the manor wall at a far corner of the entrance courtyard. He stood out, as he wore a human-sized version of the same tan armor Rukt wore. It covered everything but his head, and was tougher than steel while lighter than a feather. A quarterstaff was on his back.

"Hey, who's that?" said one soldier. He and two of his comrades approached the suspicious young man. "You there! Stop where you are!"

Tsukune made an intimidating glare over his shoulder at them. He could tell this spot was out of sight from the other patrols.

"Shoot 'em."

Tsukune sped toward them in a blink of an eye, disarming one and knocking out two with his staff. He wasn't on Akuha's level, but he was still quick enough to keep the soldiers from firing a noisy bullet. The remaining soldier pulled his fist back and punched Tsukune in the face, only to feel as if he had punched a brick wall. Halfway through moaning in pain, he was bonked over the head by a staff.

After hiding the unconscious soldiers under the bushes, Tsukune continued toward the hidden door in the wall Talia had shown him. He hoped Vicky would be able to distract Hrothmund long enough for him to get Moka out of here. He remembered Rukt's warning.

"Whatever you do, do not fight Hrothmund." Rukt had said to him, "That armor gives him more than just brute strength, but also the skill and wisdom of a god."

Tsukune nodded as if he had just heard that advice again. With a key in his hand, he searched the wall and found the inconspicuous keyhole for the concealed door.

Inside the hidden laboratory the creatures sleeping in the tanks all suddenly awoke and stared at a seemingly ordinary part of the wall. Moments later, that exact spot opened up and Tsukune walked in. Every scientist and Fairy Tale member looked at him with puzzled expressions. At the center of the room was a large glass container with Moka inside. She seemed to be asleep, and was floating as if in a zero-gravity environment.

"Well then." Tsukune readied his quarterstaff. "Let's get this over with nice and quick."

XXX

The two guards that had drained Yolnahbrii's soul with the orb walked through the manor hallways alone. Their rifles were strapped over their backs and one of them carried the orb under his arm.

"You know, there's more than a few cute girls in Fairy Tale. Ever think of asking any of em' out?"

"Not really." said the one holding the orb "We'd only have a chance if we were officers, and even if we weren't low level grunts, Gyokuro is out of the question, Routier is too young, Yol is now dead, so that only leaves Kahlua and-"

A part of the wall opened further down the hallway and someone walked out.

"Talia?" Both soldiers halted as Talia walked toward them with her hands folded behind her back.

"Hey there, doll-face." said the soldier without the orb.

Though Talia was usually more kittenish and flirty than you'd think a girl could be back on the Floating Garden, she bore a serious face instead. She approached them without a word.

"Don't be like that, baby. It was Yol's own fault for not joining our cause peacefully." The soldier looked back at the orb under his partner's arm. "I don't get why she wouldn't help us wipe out the humans."

"Perhaps the proud and virtuous Dovah saw there was more to them." Talia approached the soldier and leaned her head toward his, as if about to kiss him.

"Ooh…" The soldier sounded intrigued. "You want someone to comfort you?"

"Yes." Talia placed her hand on his cheek. "But not by you." A silver blade extended from her frilled sleeve and stabbed him in the throat. The soldier fell over.

The other soldier dropped the orb in panic and brought up his rifle. "Wah! What are you doing?"

Talia straightened her arm toward him with her palm open, the way someone would tell another to 'halt'.

"What?" the soldier asked with his rifle aimed, "You think I won't shoot if you just tell me to st-" He was cut short when a bullet was fired from a gun hidden in Talia's sleeve.

With both guards dead, Talia knelt before the orb that held Yolnahbrii's soul. "One more whom Fairy Tale has hurt." She picked it up and carried it back through the secret door. The door closed behind her. "Rest well, daughter of the winged snow hunter. Your Thu'um shall not go to waste." She stared into the orb in her hands as she walked. "Considering my intention, I am sure you would be tickled."

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…


	9. Chpt 9: Judas Kiss

**4 Years Ago**

Frederick played on his piano in his small apartment. The song was '_The Black Star_'. It was a very fast paced and catchy tune, and he played it rather quickly with a straight face. A small raven suddenly flew in through the slightly open window and landed on the carpet. It slowly transformed into a thirteen-year-old girl and stood up.

"Hello Fred." a young Talia said with a warm smile.

Frederick was too absorbed in his noisy piano music to notice.

"Fred? Freddy? Yoohoo…" Talia made an annoyed frown. She nearly put her hand on his shoulder, but stopped herself, instead sucking on her finger and then sticking it into Frederick's ear.

The piano instantly stopped. "_Aaugh_!" Frederick fell sideways onto the carpet. "Talia?" He gazed up at the giggling girl. "Don't ever do that again please…"

Talia squatted down beside him. Her dress seemed to have started growing frills and was becoming more extravagant; a sign that she was maturing. "I could not help myself, but this frivolous frolic fashions far from flagrant and familiar to facetious." She noted the frown on Frederick's face. "Come now. You know I meant nothing by it."

"It's not that. Things have just been a little rough since your last visit."

"Regardless, if you keep frowning like that…" Talia held her face in front of his and stared into his eyes, making a joke-impression of his serious face. "Your face will get stuck that way."

Frederick stared back and suddenly cracked up in laughter.

Talia smiled back. "There. That's better."

Over the next hour they talked, played, and even performed a song together on the piano. Frederick didn't care that his exhaustion was catching up with him. He loved Talia and she was fun to be around. Eventually, deciding not to let her father discover an empty bed, Talia finally said her goodbyes and left. Fred got into his bed and pulled the covers over himself, falling asleep in minutes. It felt like only moments later when everything felt freezing, like the sheets had disappeared. He reached for wherever they had gone and touched stone.

"Huh?" Frederick opened his eyes and found himself in an abandoned courtyard. "What the…" He looked up at the old vampire manor he had once called home. It was charred and in ruins, left completely as it was since the fire four years ago. "A dream?"

"I assure you that this is no dream." came a cold, female voice.

Frederick looked over and saw a woman sitting on a broken statue beside him. She wore all black and had short black hair with two pigtails. After Fred cleared his eyes, he could tell the woman was a little older than him, and was a vampire too.

"I kidnapped you in your sleep and brought you here."

"Why? What do you want?"

Akuha shrugged. "I don't know." She gestured to her right. "Ask him."

Frederick's gaze fell upon a nightmarish robbed figure approaching him. He wore a white, oval mask featuring five eye sockets and a ghastly smile. Blood-like sludge oozed from his mask. The Masked King seemingly slid over the ground. "Frederick Hrothmund," he said impassively, "youngest and now only living son to the former master of this manor. Your father, once suitor to Irena de Kermeur, became distraught when she chose a human over him. In his insanity, your father beat you, banished you, and eventually burned down his own home." A slimy finger emerged from the robe and pointed toward Frederick. "Now, _you_ live a submissive life to a human as his lapdog. The very human responsible for _your_ father's madness and every misfortune _you_ have gone through."

"Okay…" Frederick stood up and stared back at the Masked King. He tried his best to hide his fear. "So you know who I am. Why have I been brought here?"

"I can give you want you want, the only thing you want, and a chance to show you are better than your loathed father." The Masked King's five eyes suddenly bulged and swelled. "Think of this… while your father's ashes lie in the ruined manor behind me, you can be the exalted master of an even greater manor. As your father lost the heart of the highest standing woman in the city to a human, you shall be there to comfort the girl you treasure most when her father…" A rush of ooze dripped from the mask. "Perishes."

"You want me to betray Mr. Philidor!?"

"I want you to consider it."

"Never. He's helped me. He's-"

"He's holding your leash, and I'm offering to help you not only break that leash, but to gain riches beyond your wildest dreams, surpass your putrid father, and captivate a princess." The Masked King didn't know the name of Philidor's only daughter, nor did he know what she looked like, but he knew Frederick liked her. "Think of how little you have and how much you can gain. All you need to…" He looked over at Akuha. "is guide her through the manor's hidden passageway. Nothing more."

XXX

**Present Day**

Tsukune stood at the controls for the device Moka was trapped in. Fairy Tale soldiers lay all around him and throughout the laboratory with bumps on their heads, some moaning in pain. He didn't hurt any of the scientists and kept them tied up with ropes instead.

"Uhm…" Tsukune stared clueless at all the buttons. He didn't dare use trial-and-error to figure out the machine. It could do any number of things to Moka. He looked over at the closest tied-up scientist. "Hey, could you hit whatever button lets her out, please?"

The white-coat made a curious look and shrugged. "Sure, just untie me."

Tsukune released the man's restraints.

The man got up and looked at the machine's controls. A moment passed, and he suddenly pressed a button underneath the desk. The silent alarm was tripped.

"Oh… great."

"Haha," the man laughed, "you stupid, gullible kid. Hrothmund will give me a raise for sure now!" Tsukune jabbed the man's knee with his staff. "Oww!" The man fell over. "My leg! You broke my leg!"

"Your raise should about cover that."

XXX

Akuha slowly opened her eyes, but could still only see pitch black. She was lying in a bed with sheets as white as snow over her. Her body felt sore, and she could not move herself. There were no people. There was no room.

"This is your whole life, Akuha." An oval mask with five eye-sockets appeared at the foot of the bed. "Black… and the devil…" Boney, slimy fingers held a black stone and a chain.

"Get lost, slugface. I know you for what you are and you can't tempt me. You can't define who I am."

"It's what we do that defines us."

"What we do, but not what we've done. We are what we choose to be." Akuha felt herself choke as something grabbed her throat. She opened her eyes to the sight of a brightly lit room and two Fairy Tale soldiers looking down at her, one of them with a hand at her throat. He pulled her head up and forced her to sit up.

"Well, well." A one-armed Raika entered the room. "Somehow I knew you'd be here. Where else in the city could you go?"

Akuha could tell by the architecture of the room that she was still in Vicky's manor. "How did you get in here?"

Raika made a smug smile. "We just walked right in. When we heard Viktoriya had stepped out, we knew Rukt would follow. The Trofimov private army is weak without him."

Akuha noticed a manor guard lying dead on the floor. Armed average-joes wouldn't stand a chance against Raika on their own, even if he had only one arm.

"Kill her." Raika said to the soldiers, "Whatever drug she used on herself, it completely burnt her out. She won't have her usual strength or healing factor for days." He started for the door. "She's as weak and fragile as a human now." He left the room.

The Fairy Tale grunt put his other hand on Akuha's throat and began to choke her to death. "How about I keep your pretty face intact before I play with it?"

Akuha felt so weak she could hardly bring her hands up. She looked around for anything useful. There were no scalpels or other medical tools nearby, and she seemed to be completely naked under the white bed sheet that still covered her. With surprising speed, she grabbed the soldier's sidearm from the side of his belt and fired it right into his chin. The soldier fell over as his partner was shot between the eyes before he could react.

Raika turned and looked at the closed door behind him. Maybe Akuha had bitten one of his men so they just shot her twice? "Check on them." Raika said to more of his men, "There's something else that requires my attention." He zipped away like a lightning bolt.

Six Fairy Tale soldiers cautiously entered the room with their rifles at the ready. Right away they noticed the grate to a ventilation shaft was on the floor. "That coward is escaping through the vents." Two of them were suddenly shot in the head. Three of them ran and dived for cover while one started shooting all around in panic.

Akuha peered around a steel supply box beside the door with a pistol drawn. She had tied part of a white bed sheet into a knot over her shoulder and was wearing it like a long toga dress that dropped to the floor. She fired a shot into the panicking soldier's leg causing him to fall. She finished him with a second shot to the head and quickly reloaded, aiming down the sights and properly holding the gun like a trained marine.

XXX

"The silent alarm?" Hrothmund repeated.

"Yes sir." said a servant, "There seems to be an intruder in the lab."

Vicky knew the 'intruder' could only be Tsukune. Hrothmund nearly started toward the elevator when she quickly grabbed his wrist. "Surely your subordinates can handle this," Vicky said to the armored man, "Such a wealthy lord shouldn't need to get his hands dirty."

"You wouldn't have anything to do with this intruder, would you Ms. Trofimov?"

Vicky tried to hide her unease. Being born with a silver spoon, she had never needed to deceive anyone to get what she wanted. Still, only she could keep Hrothmund up here and away from Tsukune. "With some burglar or thug? A woman of my status would never sink to such levels."

"Then this is quite an extraordinary coincidence." Hrothmund leaned toward her intrusively. "I come up to greet you and right away there's a break-in at the lab. I wouldn't be surprised if Rukt himself-"

Rukt stomped through the double doors. "If I what?" Guards watched him nervously at a distance. They noticed him, but didn't dare try to stop him.

Hrothmund faced Rukt and crossed his arms. "If it isn't the warlord alpha male." He gestured toward Vicky. "Come to retrieve this curious flower?"

The ground shook as Rukt came closer. "From your stained hands. Even women from the brothel are too good for you."

Hrothmund mood darkened. "Being of rival businesses doesn't mean you can act like a monkey to me."

"How about your disgraces?"

"Disgraces?" Hrothmund spread his arms and looked upward. "I have this manor, wealth, power."

"Then enjoy them, alone. One thing you'll always lack is anybody." Rukt motioned Vicky to come with him. She nodded and followed. "Power for the sake of power is overrated." The two started toward the door.

Hrothmund looked on coldly. "And you'll never let me near her…"

"Of course I won't. You've already sold out _one_ girl that trusted you."

Hrothmund made a look of silent surprise beneath his helmet.

Vicky and her guardian exited the manor and entered the garden. They had taken between twenty to thirty minutes of Hrothmund's time, more than enough for Tsukune to have found Moka and escape with her.

XXX

Tsukune stood there in front of the container that held Moka. He had his staff raised as if ready to smash it open, but he did nothing. He had been standing here for some time now, unsure of what to do. He didn't know what the device was or what it did. The scientists refused to help him and he couldn't figure it out on his own. Just that small chance he might hurt Moka made him hesitate.

The nearby elevator doors suddenly opened with Hrothmund standing there. Any expression he may have had was covered by his helmet. "So, you're the intruder. I can't say I recognize you."

Tsukune looked in horror and felt his blood run cold. He hurriedly swung his staff at the glass, but something stopped it dead. At the corner of his eye he noticed Hrothmund beside him with one hand grasping the end staff. Tsukune didn't see or even feel him move.

"It makes no difference." Hrothmund pulled the staff away and bent it like a paperclip, tying it into a knot and tossing it aside.

Tsukune punched the armored man square in the face with everything he had. "Oww!" He pulled his hand back to see it red and bruised. In response, Hrothmund flicked him on the forehead and sent him flying. He smashed straight through the hidden door that led into the hidden tunnels of the manor. "Ugh…" he moaned, lying on the ground. He recalled being kicked by Griggs, feeling every bone in his body break. That was nothing compared to this.

"You survived being flicked be me?" Hrothmund slowly walked after him. "I know it sounds like an insult, but I am actually quite impressed."

Tsukune got up and fumbled down the tunnel system. All he could do now was run for his life.

XXX

The guards of the Trofimov manor were putting up a fight, even neutralizing some grunts, but to Raika they were nothing more than a nuisance. After disposing of another group that only slowed him down, Raika entered the room where the business records and secrets were kept. Not that he was searching for anything, he just knew that if there was something to use as leverage for Hrothmund, it would be here. He had nearly opened the first filing cabinet when he heard a shotgun blast behind him, bolting to the side and barley dodging it in time. Standing at the doorway, Akuha re-aimed the M1014 shotgun she held but Raika moved too quick, grabbing her off the ground with his only hand and disarming her.

"Do you mean to tell me…" Raika growled, "that those incompetent fools couldn't finish someone as helpless as one human!?"

In what seemed like a second, Akuha grabbed a nearby wine bottle, smashed it on the shelf, and stabbed the broken glass into the side of Raika's neck. "There's more to me than raw abilities." She pulled out a small can of mace and sprayed it into Raika's eyes. Roaring in pain, he dropped her, and she immediately tackled the dazed Raijuu to the ground and stabbed a shard of glass into his wrist. He kicked her off himself and sent her flying twenty feet across the hall.

"You dare!?" Raika screamed as he felt around, blinded and dizzy. His hand fell upon the shotgun Akuha had been carrying. "Haha…" Raika stood up with the shotgun in hand. "You can't hurt me without this." He was suddenly bashed in the face with a fire extinguisher, knocking him over again.

"You're more arrogant than I ever was." Akuha said. She raised the fire extinguisher and hit the glass shard in Raika's wrist like a hammer to a nail, causing him to let go of the gun. She watched as Raika sprung back up, yelling as he flailed his dead arm around like a blind animal trying to find its prey. "They'll make anyone a division leader nowadays."

Raika's vision began to clear to the sight of Akuha aiming the shotgun at him. She blasted his shoulder off and his arm fell away. "No! This is not possible! It's supposed to be easy!"

"Easy?" Akuha loaded a few shells into the shotgun. "I can't use the Jigen-tou like this, but wits are sharp enough for the likes of you."

The armless Raika changed into a stream of lightning and sped away down the hall.

Akuha didn't give chase. "He's his own worst enemy. His arrogance will trump his strength every time."

XXX

Tsukune sprinted through the tunnels, bumping against the walls utterly lost in the dark. He didn't know these tunnels like Talia did… or Hrothmund whom was making sport of hunting him.

"I need not know who you are. What I do know is that you're no one." Hrothmund's voice echoed through the halls, "I wonder… when I bring your corpse before Ms. Trofimov will she deny ever having seen you before? You're going to die alone, afraid, and abandoned."

Tsukune felt his arms jitter and his hair stand up. He was genuinely afraid, as he was probably unable to defend himself against someone so powerful. "Would Akuha be this helpless?" He thought about Moka and what was at stake. "No. If there's a way to beat or shake this guy _I will_ find it." He came to a better-lit, but still dark opening that led to the stadium sized gladiator pit he and Talia had passed through before. A hand suddenly shoved him forward and sent him flying all the way to the opposite side of the sandy pit.

Hrothmund landed kneeling on the sand and stood up. "Are you done running, or are you ready to face me?" he called from the other side of the pit.

Tsukune got up and his right gauntlet shined with the color of gold. "I'm not as helpless as you think, monster." He made a huge leap across the arena and flew headfirst toward Hrothmund with both hands forward, roaring in a loud warcry. Hrothmund drew his fist back and punched at him. Tsukune brushed one hand around Hrothmund's wrist, sailing around the punch, creating a vortex in his other hand, and smashing it against his opponent's back. Hrothmund budged only a little and swung his fist around. Tsukune leapt back to avoid it. With his hands already up, he created another vortex and plunged it onto Hrothmund's head. The force created a huge sand cloud around them. Hrothmund then pushed the boy away with both hands, sending him into a tumble. Tsukune tried to get up but faltered. That light shove felt like it nearly broke his ribs.

"Those actually hurt." Hrothmund said as he flexed his neck, "What else have you got?"

Tsukune knew that if his low-level vortexes couldn't do much, there was still one thing that had a chance. The dark power he had tapped into at the bridge. The punch he had used to kill Yol, triggered by rage if not survival instincts. Tsukune charged at Hrothmund, trying to feel as angry as he could as he punched. "Youch!" His hand ended up getting bruised again. He punched again, this time thinking of all the occasions his friends at Yōkai Academy had been in danger. "Oww!" He thought of Yol, a sweet girl in a similar predicament who's life he had ended earlier today. "Argh!" He thought of Moka being held hostage by bad people, and having been so close to rescuing her twice already. "Ouch!" He just couldn't force any anger. Whenever anything bad happened to him he would usually get depressed or worried instead.

"Hmp." Hrothmund sounded disappointed. "I don't know why I expected any more from you." He slapped Tsukune with the back of his hand, sending him plummeting over ten feet into the stone walls of the arena.

Gravity pulled Tsukune out of the wall and onto the sand with broken stones all around him. As if his hands practically falling apart wasn't bad enough, now he could hardly find the strength to stand up again. "I'm going to die down here…" He could see Hrothmund slowly approaching him. He would never see his friends again when they had been through so much together, good people have died for nothing, and Fairy Tale would accomplish whatever they had planned for Moka and discard her. "I guess that makes me angry?"

Hrothmund put a hand over his fist, finally ready to attack for real. "I tire of this game. It's time I ended it." He was taken aback as his beaten opponent suddenly sprung up with a fist shrouded in jet-black energy.

Tsukune threw a punch one more time, and the entire manor shook as sand blew up around them like a volcanic explosion. "Yeah, that's more like it!" Crevices opened and ran through the stone walls and ceiling. The dust slowly cleared. "What!? You gotta' be kidding me!"

Hrothmund still stood there, having stopped Tsukune's punch with both hands held forward. "I've never witnessed such a powerful attack." He hopped back and flexed his fingers. "If I hadn't used both hands I'd be seriously injured right now."

Tsukune fell to his knees. That jolt of energy had increased his healing factor for a moment, but he was now so exhausted and drained.

"So that was all you had…" Hrothmund came forward. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. You were faced with beyond-impossible odds and still fared well. Tell you what: I'll break your legs and take you alive instead. I'm sure I'll find some kind of use for someone with your raw abilities."

Tsukune threw a cloud of sand at Hrothmund's face and jumped away. He had barley left the ground when Hrothmund grabbed his ankle and tossed him the other direction. Hrothmund zoomed around to the end of Tsukune's flight path and flicked him into the air. The brutally beaten human landed face-first into the sand, just beside a young girl holding a peculiar glowing orb under her arm.

"Have I lost my marbles?" Hrothmund's eyes lit up beneath his helmet. "Talia?"

Talia stepped forward with a devious look on her face. "Fred."

Hrothmund looked between Talia and Tsukune. "I suppose you put him up to this. Better yet, I'd say you two may have been in on this together." He paced to the side, still watching them. "Why? If it's your home you want, know that my offer four years ago still stands." Hrothmund extended a hand forward. "Come back to me. You can be my little birdy again."

Talia ignored him and gently helped Tsukune up. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Tsukune politely stepped away and stood on his own. "Vampire blood gives me a decent healing factor."

Hrothmund noted the way Talia looked at and spoke to the human. "I get it…" He tightened his fists. "So, you would choose this peacock over me?"

"What? We're not-"

Talia put a finger onto Tsukune's lip to quiet him. "He has already proven himself a better man than you could ever hope to be."

"Proven himself!?" Hrothmund spat, "I beat him as if he was nothing."

"The guise of physical warfare beat him." Talia's speech darkened. "_You_ are nothing without that armor, not that you are anything wearing it."

"This armor grants me the strength and wisdom of a god! I'm more than I ever was!"

"You hide behind the strong and wise persona of the armor in refusal to accept that you are still the selfish and pitiful boy that betrayed anyone that ever trusted him."

Hrothmund gritted his teeth as his eyes fell upon Tsukune. He moved toward the boy with the intent to kill.

Tsukune gulped. He really hoped Talia had something to back up all that smack she had talked.

"Tsukune," Talia said pleasantly, "could you hit him one last time?"

"Eh? What good will that do?"

Talia held up the orb she was carrying on one hand. "Just try it."

Hrothmund was only a few feet away. Deciding there was nothing to lose, Tsukune brought his fist back and punched. At that moment he heard a word being shouted behind him. It wasn't Talia, but the orb calling something that sounded like '_Feim_'. Tsukune's punch suddenly phased through the armor and hit Hrothmund, knocking him out the back of it. An eighteen-year old vampire with messy white hair and a sleeveless shirt tumbled over the sand. The armor he had worn stood there empty and without a wearer. It slowly burned up and collapsed into a pile of ash, leaving only the cape and the right gauntlet behind.

Frederick Hrothmund sat up. A frightened, pathetic look was on his face. "Black arts? But the armor should've stopped that!"

Talia reached down into the ash pile and took the gauntlet. "There exists many phasing methods outside of Youjutsu."

Hrothmund got up and ran off into the darkness.

Talia turned to Tsukune and winked. "My apologies for the subtle implications. My intention was to make him angry."

"Heh, subtle?" Tsukune eyed the gauntlet in Talia's possession. She wasn't wearing it, just holding it in her left hand. "I guess I should thank-" He paused when he remembered Talia had caused Yōkai Academy to go mad and nearly destroy itself. "Why did you help me?" he demanded, "Was it to take revenge on your one-time friend for what he did to your father?"

Talia giggled. "If it was vengeance I wanted, I would not have let him go. My Father's death simply brought me to stop caring about consequences."

Tsukune looked at her with a frown. "You know… you and Akuha are a lot alike," he said, "and different at the same time."

"Oh?" Talia sounded intrigued. "In a specific way?"

Tsukune nodded. "You were once kind and gentle, but now you manipulate and hurt people. Akuha was once cruel and brutal, but now she's more considerate toward others. It's like you switched places."

"Anyone would be open to change at their lowest point. Both I and Akuha reached those points four years ago on Christmas eve."

"And you each become the opposite of how you were born."

"No one is born good or evil, it is a duel nature. Those too kind can be taken advantage of, while those too wicked need to be kept in check lest we destroy ourselves." Talia opened her wingspan. "But enough of this. You would wish for me to guide you back to Moka, would you not?"

"Go ahead." Tsukune pointed a finger at her. "But don't think this means that I trust you now."

"Of course." Talia took to the air and Tsukune followed after her.

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…


	10. Chpt 10: Cataclysm

**Asked by a guest reviewer**: "would Jasmine be mentioned sometime in the future?"

**There's a lot I could say about Jasmine. She's someone Akuha loved and lost and is part of why Akuha took a liking to Moka so quick, but we know so little about her. Why did she turn on Akuha? Is she still alive at the time of this story? There's enough holes in my story as it is, so it's unlikely she'll get anymore than a mentioning.**

* * *

**Manor Study Room**

Kahlua sat at a small square table alone, trailing her finger around the rim of a wineglass. She had never drank before. "This is what people do when they're sad right?" She stared into the eyes of her own reflection in the wine. "They drink." She had only known Yol for a week but killing her herself still put her in a gloomy mood. Talia's words were also bugging her.

"_While we dawdle about, your younger sister is being held against her will, your elder sister is coming for her, and you are here to stop her_."

True… Kahlua knew her older sister was coming. They only spent one year together in the Shuzen Household but they still got along fine. Pretty soon they would probably fight again. Why? So that Moka would _remain_ hostage against her will? Kahlua knew Moka far longer than Akuha, not that she could name favorites between her sisters. She loved all three of her sisters with all her heart… didn't she?

"_If it came to it once again, would you harm your sisters if Gyokuro ordered it_?"

Kahlua put her hands over her face and took a deep breath. "Stop thinking this way. Not for a friend, not even for a sister could I ever betray my mother." She tried to think of all her mother had given her. All the knowledge and training from one of the most powerful beings on the planet for her daughter and protégé.

"_You're not Gyokuro's daughter_._ You're her dog_!"

Those words felt like a punch in the face.

"_What__ do you value more_? _Your own sisters or your mother's approval_?"

Kahlua began to cry.

"_Merely s__hedding tears of atonement would make no difference_._ Harming another is what it is_."

"I'm so sorry…"

"_You're not sorry_. _You'd kill your own sisters if you were asked to_."

"But it's how I was raised. I don't think, I just _do_ until the job is over."

"_I would advise you to consider thinking for yourself for a change_."

"But… but it's that kind of thinking that made Akuha a traitor."

"_If you've yet to decide what means more to you, you will very soon_."

Kahlua thought of the coming storm and the eventual choice she would have to make. Her sisters or Fairy Tale. She drank the wine and immediately spat it out. "Eww! Tastes like liquid dust!"

XXX

**Secret Tunnel System**

It was an understatement to say Tsukune had no trouble keeping up with Talia. The girl ran rather slowly through the tunnels with both hands on her skirt to keep herself from tripping. After what seemed like only a minute, she stopped to catch her breath, panting hard.

"Wow," Tsukune said, unimpressed, "you need to work out."

"Lecorjamasi… are not made… for running." Talia panted, "We fly."

Tsukune was getting anxious. He needed to get back to Moka now, but only Talia knew these tunnels. He suddenly picked Talia up, his arms under her legs and back. "Just tell me which way to go."

"Ah." Talia wrapped an arm around Tsukune's back and onto his shoulder, relaxing herself in his arms. "Very well."

Tsukune couldn't help but notice that they looked like a couple cuddling romantically. He sighed as his nose bled a little. "Let's just get this over with." He sprinted through the tunnels, going left, right, or straight under Talia's direction. In no time they reached the laboratory. "Oh no." Tsukune groaned. The unconscious guards and tied-up scientists were all gone now. Worse, the container Moka was in was now empty. "They moved her again!"

"Considering such a strong, stunning intruder…" Talia brushed her finger up and down Tsukune's cheek. "Did you expect otherwise?"

Tsukune eyed the nearby elevator. Even if Moka was long gone _again_, he wasn't about to leave empty handed. "Talia, who's in command of the Fairy Tale operatives here?"

"The venal and vice vulgarian Galvinro. You've encountered him."

"He's that greasy lawn gnome guy in the silk suit, right?" Tsukune opened his left eye wider to imitate the person in mention. "One eye bigger than the other, the size of a ten-year-old, snorts a lot."

Talia laughed softly. "Yes, and what do you want with him?"

"Answers."

XXX

**Manor Living Room**

Galvinro looked down at the two dead soldiers before him. "You're saying you found them like this?"

"Yes sir. They were just lying there in a hallway."

Galvinro studied the soldier's wounds, one was stabbed the other was shot. "It can't be the intruder, and Akuha doesn't kill this way."

"How about those guys in the powered armor suits? We killed one earlier but there were two to begin with."

Galvinro nodded his head. "That would make sense. They use combat knives and guns."

Kahlua stepped forward. "I don't think so." she spoke up, "Those guys are really tough. Even one of them wouldn't need to take a stealthy approach against what we have left."

"Well then who else could it be?" Galvinro spat.

Kahlua bit her finger lightly and pondered. "I'd hate to say it, but the likeliest person would be Tal-"

A boy with messy white hair suddenly burst through the double doors. The soldiers in the room sprung their guns up and took aim.

"Who are you?!" Galvinro demanded.

"It's me you _dunce_!"

Galvinro recognized his voice. "Hrothmund? What happened to your armor?"

"Talia…" Frederick's head sunk. "She turned on me and helped the intruder."

Galvinro chuckled. "Why? Did you touch her in a nice place without her permission?"

Frederick grabbed Galvinro by the collar and butted his head against his. "Listen to me! Four years ago, I withheld information about Philidor's only daughter."

"You reported she was dead."

"I lied about that, as well as what her real name was."

"Why?"

Frederick relaxed and frowned. "I hoped she would come back to me some day."

XXX

Tsukune blew through the hallways, disarming the manor guards and Fairy Tale soldiers with ease. Any that didn't run ended up getting their fist bruised upon hitting the brick wall that was Tsukune's face. Tsukune was angry, but not at Fairy Tale for the moment. He was angry at himself, for losing Moka when he so easily could have rescued her, and for putting himself in a position where he would be forced to trust Talia. Tsukune looked back at the girl that abandoned her heart four years ago, following him as he cleared the hallways.

"Yes my friend?"

"I'm not your frie-" Tsukune paused. He always liked to make new friends, and he liked to believe that almost anyone could be redeemed. Akuha lost her heart once too, but found it again seven years ago.

"Please," Talia smiled, "do continue."

Tsukune looked away from her. It wasn't just that she was pretty, but that she also seemed so friendly and kind. Her past actions spoke otherwise. "She's trying to gain my trust," Tsukune thought, "but… should I give her a chance?"

"While reason demands that you turn away, your gentle heart tells you to trust me, mais non?" Talia slowly placed her hand on his shoulder. "You are fortunate to be raised by both parents. It is a blessing not often recognized. Through them you learned charity and virtue, and you have many friends to show for it."

"And you think I'll do as you ask because of that?"

"No." Talia slid her hand from Tsukune's shoulder to his cheek. "You'll do as such because neither you nor Akuha can rescue Moka on your own. Your concern for the well-being of others brings about uncertainty, and Akuha places all she has into battle with nothing left to spare."

Tsukune brushed Talia's hand aside. "How about you? What can you bring to the table besides more crazy plans? You can't fight."

"No, but you hardly need to when you're a people-person."

Tsukune made a dissatisfied look. "Look, no offense, but you're slowing me down and I think I can find my way from here." He turned away. "I'm going on alone." He ran off.

"Don't get lost!" Talia called in a playful manner.

XXX

Galvinro watched as his men fled through the halls from the intruder. "Stop running!" he shouted, "No one told you to leave your posts!" He moved to the center of the hall and spread his arms out to get in their way, and was immediately trampled under a flock of soldiers that didn't notice him. "Cowards! Get back here!"

Another soldier helped him up. "The guy is a vampire or something. We can't even slow him down."

Galvinro rubbed a boot print off his suit. "In that case, the only thing we have that would stand a chance is a vampire of our own."

Frederick felt all the soldiers look at him. "Don't look at me. I can't beat him without the armor."

"I wasn't talking about you, fool." Galvinro spat, "We are being buried by enough of your inadequacies as it is!" He pointed at Kahlua, whom drearily stood in the corner. "At least _she_ knows how to fight."

"I agree…" Frederick sighed, "she's the best we've got, but she doesn't exactly have a winning record."

That was true. Kahlua is pretty tough but she was helpless against Akuha and the human special forces during the freeway battle. Also, Galvinro hadn't forgotten that before this, Kahlua had just recovered from a different battle she lost to Akuha. If only they still had that dragon with them, the one Gyokuro told them to execute. It's not like Yol would find out what happened to her sister. "Fine," Galvinro said, "I'll personally see to it that the intruder dies."

"You're joking right?" Frederick said dully, "You're no match for your own worthless henchmen let alone a vampire. You aren't even a good tactician."

"What I do have…" Galvinro motioned a soldier nearby, "are some very exotic resources." A large steel canister was brought before him.

XXX

Tsukune began to regret leaving Talia behind after coming across yet another dead end. Perhaps carrying her and using her as a guide again wouldn't have been so bad, but it wasn't like he had the time to go back and find her. This mansion was so big he was getting lost in it.

The wall suddenly burst open and Kahlua rushed out for a surprise attack. Tsukune felt a reflex kick in as he dodged and went for a counter attack. Remembering Akuha's training, he sailed around the wing-blade and punched his opponent across the face, knocking her on her bottom.

"Huh?" Kahlua said in a daze, "That's Akuha's technique."

Tsukune let her get up and try again, moving around a vertical slash and delivering a flurry of successive blows. Kahlua flew back and landed face-down. She tried to stand again but faltered. She wasn't charmed to feel no pain like she usually was before a fight.

"Wow, I guess you aren't as dumb as you look." came another voice, "or more likely, Akuha just did a good job at training you." Galvinro slowly came down the hall pushing a canister almost as big as he was. At least a dozen of his men followed behind him.

"Thanks for saving me the trouble of finding you." Tsukune said from where he was. "Now just hand Moka back to me and I won't hurt anyone else."

Galvinro sat on the canister like a stool. "You think you can make demands on _us_? Sure, you have vampire blood and have learned some of Akuha's fancy Kung Fu gimmicks, but Fairy Tale has _dozens_ of more operatives on your level and Gyokuro has always been Akuha's better. You've still got a long way to go before you're even considered a threat."

Tsukune sighed. He wanted to talk this out, knowing that Galvinro was coward, but the little man still seemed very sure of himself. Sure Fairy Tale had more to throw at him, but Galvinro himself had only Kahlua left. Maybe the guy was more deluded than he thought?

Kahlua held a depressing face as she raised her wing-blade. "Your orders?"

"Don't be so hasty." Galvinro turned the lid of his canister. A cold mist vented out as he opened it. "_This_ is all I need." He pulled out a frozen, gross looking dark-green worm the length of a grown man's arm. "You wouldn't believe how much this cost me."

**Bite-sized Monster Dictionary**: Infandu, Latin for 'unspeakable', are a race of frightening and extremely rare parasitic creatures born not of the Earth, but of another dimension. Little else is known about them other than that sunlight is absolutely fatal to them, thus they often hide deep underground or within a host body.

It didn't take long for the worm to thaw out and begin squirming in Galvinro's grasp. Tsukune readied himself for whatever the worm might do. Galvinro suddenly shoved the worm's head against his chest and it ate into him, slipping inside through the hole it made. Kahlua and Fairy Tale soldiers stepped back as their commander screamed in pain. His bones snapped as his entire body, starting with his stomach, expanded and became a bloated grotesque mess. Tsukune felt his stomach turn as he looked away while Galvinro felt a bottomless hunger overtake him. The wobbling mutant turned to the nearest source of meat, his own soldiers, and quickly devoured them as he rapidly grew in size. When only a shocked Kahlua was left, what was once Galvinro now had the body of a fat beetle or maggot with a torso coming out at the front. It had two enormous scythes for arms, an extra pair of small skeletal arms, and a bubble-like hollow belly. Six glowing orange eyes were lined below a horn on its head. It was the size of mammoth.

"_OM nom nom nom nom nom_!" Galvinro viciously chewed.

**Monster Dictionary Extended Entry**: Upon infection, a host body is rapidly mutated into a nightmarishly horrifying form in effort to make it more suitable as both a living nest and a food gatherer. While gaining unearthly strength, the host also gains an unquenchable hunger. The first recorded infected host consumed an average of 24,000 pounds of flesh and bone per 24 hours, three times the consumption rate of a blue whale.

(_Profile page. Picture under 'Infandu Host'. It's meant to look disturbing._)

Kahlua put her back to the wall, staring open-mouthed as the abomination swept past her and headed straight for Tsukune. Galvinro ran into him like a speeding locomotive, plunging him through at least six walls and tossing him into what he recognized as the ballroom he had been in a day ago.

Tsukune landed flat on his back with the sight of a scythe-arm dropping down at him. He rolled to the side as Galvinro rapidly stabbed at the floor after him. Remembering Akuha's advice to take the offensive, he leapt up and punched the monstrosity's carapace. It didn't seem to do much, and it further bruised his fist much like punching Hrothmund's armor had. Galvinro then chomped at Tsukune and tore a small chuck of his hip off. Tsukune cried out in pain as he landed, grasping the open wound with both hands as blood slipped between his fingers. Galvinro wasn't fast, but he was strong and near-impervious. With his prey already crippled, he darted an arm toward Tsukune to finish him off.

Talia stepped in the way and strangely stopped Galvinro's attack with just her right hand. At a closer glance, she was wearing Hrothmund's gauntlet, partially covered by her frilled sleeve. In her left hand she held the dragon orb forward, and a blast erupted from it that propelled Galvinro far across the room.

Tsukune stared at his open-wound, expecting himself to black out at any moment, but the wound was healing so fast he could literally see it close before his eyes. The bleeding subsided. There wasn't even a sharp pain.

"You display an impressive healing factor." Talia said, halfway facing him.

In spite of all the punishment Tsukune had gone through today, the worst he felt for the moment was 'tired'. "Because of the vampire blood."

Talia shook her head. "No ordinary vampire heals so quickly. There is something else inside you."

"I think I've noticed." Tsukune stood up. "So…" Across the room Galvinro had recovered and was looking their way. "You got another crazy plan? They're what you 'bring to the table'."

Talia looked by the hole in the wall Kahlua was climbing through. "Among other things."

Kahlua steadied her wing-blade. "Talia?" she gasped with a puzzled look, "You… you _are_ helping him!"

"I am thinking for myself," Talia said with a serious demeanor, "and you are taking orders from a bug that made a meal of his subordinates."

"But, the mi-"

"Mission?" Talia raised a brow. "The mission must be important to you if you would kill your friends and ruin your sisters for it." Her tone darkened. "I hope cutting Yolnahbrii's throat open didn't trouble you too badly. Surely you understand that the scant reward for completing this mission is to undergo more like it."

Kahlua frowned and her eyes watered. "But…"

Talia pointed at Galvinro. "Are you going to let _that_ tell you what to do?"

Galvinro was already creeping toward them. "Talia." he said in a unpleasant, monstrous voice, "I should have figured that someone so secretive would be a traitor."

"Galvinro." Talia looked up and down the disgusting creature. "That form suits you rather well."

"I'll show you just _how_ well." Galvinro leapt at them. The horn on his head cut through the ceiling as he went. Tsukune and Talia leapt opposite directions to avoid him before he landed. "Kahlua!" Galvinro growled, "Deal with the traitor! The boy is mine!" Tsukune hopped onto Galvinro's lunging arm, ran up it, and hit him across the face. It was no more effective than his last attack.

"Tsukune." Talia called out. She took off the gauntlet and held it up. "Would you like to borrow this?"

Tsukune had to admit that the gauntlet would be useful, but with the dark power inside him, he felt he was playing with enough fire already. "I wont use anything stained in blood."

Talia looked amused. "Can you really afford to be picky in this situation?"

"I want to save Moka, but I don't want to lose myself trying."

Galvinro leapt up and landed on Tsukune. Tsukune felt his ribs snap then slowly begin mending themselves back together again. First he gets body-slammed by a dragon, now by this maggot creature. He slipped out from under Galvinro and was immediately swatted again by the massive scythe-arm. He was propelled out the doorway and into the large grand entrance hallway, a little more than halfway across the room. A number of servants saw him and fled in panic.

"Ouch…" The pain Tsukune felt was unimaginable, but it was slowly fading away like before. As impressive as his healing factor was, it would probably reach its limit soon if he couldn't hurt Galvinro at all.

Galvinro slid after his prey, walking on his scythe-arms with haste. The house-sized chandelier at the center of the ceiling high above suddenly fell and came crashing down on Galvinro, shattering loudly. Shards of glass landed in front of Tsukune. Kahlua landed from high above beside him, having been the one that had cut the chandelier cord.

"_Arrrrgggghhhhhhhh_!" Galvinro burst out of the pile of broken glass in rage. "You would betray Fairy Tale too?! You would betray your mother?!"

"I wouldn't look at it that way!" Kahlua yelled loudly, while retaining a somewhat miserable facial expression, "You're not you anymore, and Talia technically outranks you anyways!"

Galvinro roared like a Tyrannosaurus. "Fine, more food for me!" There seemed to be a lot of broken glass pierced all over him.

Talia watched from the doorway to the dance hall. "The carapace of an Infandu isn't the least bit firm, but it is thick," she whispered to herself, "thus it is near impervious to blunt force, but quite susceptible to cutting."

Kahlua leapt forward with her wing-blade and Galvinro swung his scythe-arm. The wing-blade easily cut off Galvinro's arm like butter. "Normally I'd say I'm sorry…" Kahlua said as she landed, "but to be honest, I don't really feel that way for once." She leapt again to slice off Galvinro's other arm, right as the giant maggot suddenly vomited a stream of green acid-like sludge at her.

Tsukune cringed as Kahlua tumbled over the floor crying in pain. While she had mostly avoided the sludge, a bit of it got on her wing-blade, and it quickly melted away leaving only a stub. It didn't look like it would heal back like before. Galvinro pounced onto Kahlua, crushing her into the ground. He leapt up and landed on her again and again until Tsukune shoulder-rammed him mid-air and knocked him away. Galvinro was hardly phased and quickly started charging back at them.

Kahlua put her hand over where her other arm used to be. "It hurts!" she squeaked.

Tsukune grabbed her one arm, wrapping it over his shoulder to help her up and leapt across the room with her out of Galvinro's way. "Can you make another blade with your arm?" Tsukune said as they landed, "It's the only thing that seems to hurt him."

"But you're in better shape. Shouldn't you do that?"

"What?" Tsukune looked at her. "Me? You mean I can morph my arm too?"

Kahlua nodded. "Of course. Anyone with vampire powers can." She looked to Tsukune's right arm. "Just focus your energy and it's as easy as opening a closed fist."

Tsukune stood up and held both arms in front of him. Through Akuha's training he had gotten pretty good at focusing energy, but after concentrating it he didn't know what to do next. "There's more to it, right?"

Kahlua looked from Tsukune's unsure face to his hands and suddenly bit onto his lower arm. Tsukune's reaction was to shake her off, but she didn't seem to give or take any blood. Instead Tsukune felt his energy move as if on its own. Kahlua released, and Tsukune's arm began a frantic, initially painful change. Though it didn't feel any heavier, it took the form of a single, enormous, hardened bat-wing-shaped great sword, as opposed to Kahlua's five smaller blades. Tsukune marveled at the weapon, unsure to be aroused or frightened by it.

Galvinro released a big blob of acid at them, now trying to keep his distance. Tsukune shoved Kahlua to safety just as the acid splattered on him and splashed all around. The acid hissed and burnt into the stone, making a shallow crater until it dissipated, and Tsukune stood up looking fine. The armor and shirt he wore had completely dissolved. Only his pants, shoes, and wing-blade remained.

"What?!" Galvinro shouted. The boy's healing had to have reached Gyokuro's level to have taken it so easily.

Tsukune felt as confused as his opponent was. The acid had burnt so deep that it disabled whatever allowed him to feel pain, but then his body repaired it all so quickly, _much_ faster than it ever had before. From his battle with Griggs, to the Capricorns, to Hrothmund, to now, he seemed to be getting stronger the more he got hurt. Not questioning the good fortune, he rushed toward the maggot creature and chopped into his chest.

Kahlua lay on the ground with Talia squatting beside her, watching the fight. "How could anyone heal from that?" she asked, "He's just a human with vampire blood."

"The blood is far from ordinary. The more his body is destroyed and rebuilt, the more it alters him to be like the original owner."

"Moka?"

Talia made a mischievous smile. "Not quite…"

Tsukune grabbed the back end of Galvinro's maggot body with his left hand, lifted him off the ground, and threw him back into the floor. He then chopped, sliced, and shredded Galvinro until he was nothing but a carved, limbless, immobile mess. Feeling that the fight was over, Tsukune raised his blade and it reverted back to a normal hand. "I'm not gonna kill anyone else today." he said, "Not even you."

"And I'm not gonna tell you anything." Galvinro growled, "You think I'll _beg_? I've been dead since the moment I shoved that worm into my chest."

Tsukune stared the maggot creature down. "I guess even a coward can face death when he doesn't value his life."

"Don't get me wrong, I like being me, but I like the idea of taking you with me even better." Galvinro leaned his head forward. "Plus the sight of ripping you apart myself would haven been simply delicious…"

Talia approached and stood beside Tsukune. "Forget about interrogation. An Infandu host becomes an arthropod, which lacks the nervous system to feel pain."

"Did you read up on this creature in a book?" Tsukune asked.

"Not quite. Do you recall those creatures in the lab? They are failed attempts to create what the Capricorns turned out to be, created primarily from tissue samples of Infandu."

Close behind them, Kahlua stood staring at Galvinro with a gloomy look. She was no fool. She knew that in the heat of the moment, she had given into her emotions and just betrayed her mother. Though she seemed calm on the outside, in her mind she began to panic. Any thoughts she had for the future had turned to ashes, and now all she could think of was to go to her mother and beg for forgiveness, which she knew she would never get. She quietly changed her left arm to another wing-blade, not raising it on Tsukune or Talia, but over her own heart, and hesitated.

"Hehehehehe…" Galvinro softly chuckled. "You're all going to die down here." He bent his head down and ripped off his own stomach with his teeth. His body collapsed into a corpse and dozens of new Infandu worms spilled out and onto the floor. Tsukune, Talia, and Kahlua leapt away as the worms spread out, some slithering straight for servants of the manor that were watching.

"Tsukune, Kahlua!" Talia said from the air, flapping her wings, "Do not allow those parasites to find another host!"

Tsukune nodded. "Got it." He leapt to one side one the entrance hall and began stomping the worms flat before they got to anyone. Kahlua however just stood still, confused and unsure whom to listen to while the worms moved down the other side of the hall unchallenged.

"Kahlua! Regardless of your allegiance do you concur that letting the Infandu roam is really the best course of action?"

Kahlua snapped out of her trance and looked as the giant parasites ate into their new hosts.

XXX

**Trofimov Manor**

The rooms and hallways that staged any fighting certainly showed it, bullet holes and scorch marks were everywhere, but none of it was beyond repair. Viktoriya's guards had routed the attackers, and of the fifty Fairy Tale agents only six had gotten away, including their leader.

"Still…" Akuha sighed. She looked around the demolished dressing room where she had tried on the Chinese Dress the other day. "Rukt should've been here."

Viktoriya shrugged. "It was Tsukune's idea to take me to Hrothmund's, and you know Rukt would never let me out of his sight." She made a weak smile as she stared off into space. "One time I got tired of Rukt always following me around, so I ditched him while I was out shopping. Next I met some boy. He seemed nice, until he knocked me out and held me for ransom. He never saw a dollar though." She eyed the white bedsheets Akuha was still wearing. "How long do you plan on wearing that?"

"Well my original outfit is so torn up I can barley recognize it." Akuha gestured toward the rest of the room. "And all these dresses were burnt in the fighting."

"Our female guard uniforms are probably too big for you, but I think some of my old clothes should fit. I'm only a little taller than you."

"Got anything in black?"

"Afraid not, but my mother quite liked that color, and I still keep some of the clothes she wore when she was younger. They should fit too."

Akuha couldn't help but recall that Vicky's mother was wearing black the moment she killed her. "On second thought, I'll just wear some of your clothes."

"Umm… okay."

A guard entered. "Madam Shuzen, there are three visitors at the door that claim to know you. One of them is a vampire."

Akuha raised an eyebrow. "Hair color?"

"Excuse me?"

"What color is the vampire's hair? Pink? Silver? Blonde?"

"None of those ma'am. It's red."

XXX

**Hrothmund's Manor**

Tsukune and Kahlua ran while Talia flew, all moving out the giant front double-door and into the gardens that surrounded the manor. More than forty Infandu hosts were tearing the manor apart from the inside out. Tsukune and Kahlua both stopped and readied themselves as one Infandu host came out the door after them. Kahlua chopped an arm off and Tsukune punched it back through the door, but it quickly recovered and growled at them.

"Enough!" Talia flew down and landed behind them. "Say you can hold your own against such a high volume of Infandu, it would merely allow them time to spread."

Tsukune gulped. "Spread?"

"If _one_ host left the manor, the entire city would fall within a day or two. Can you even imagine what the Infandu would do with twenty-five-million bodies? Not even Rukt or the Dark Lords would be able to stop that."

Kahlua looked shocked. "…and I just stood there and let them…"

"Kahlua!" Tsukune snapped, "This is Galvinro's fault not yours." He looked back at the doorway as a horde of Infandu hosts gathered. "And that monster knew full well what he was unleashing." The Infandu hosts avalanched toward them. Outmatched, Tsukune, Kahlua, and Talia fled.

Kahlua looked up at the glass ceiling a mile above them, recalling that they were underwater. "Can these creatures drown?"

"Infandu need to breath." Talia said, flying above them, "Sealing this district off and flooding it can work."

Kahlua stared at an airlock on the wall as she ran. It was big enough to fit a whale through. She broke off from Tsukune and Talia and ran toward it instead. "Talia!" she called back at them, "Tell my mother that big-sis killed me!"

Tsukune stopped and looked on. In his head he quickly pieced together what Kahlua was about to do. Someone grabbed his wrist the moment he almost ran after her.

"No." Talia said to him, "Stay here and you'll be swept away too. Would you put your friends through such an ordeal?"

Kahlua reached the airlock door and changed her sole left arm back to normal. She punched the door and felt her fist nearly break while the thick steel hardly dented, but she punched again anyways. "Mother will never know I betrayed her and I would be helping my sisters at the same time." A number of Infandu hosts were getting closer. "You want to know which meant more to me? My answer is '_both_'!" An Infandu bent down and bit off Kahlua's right thigh. She screamed but still continued hitting the airlock. At least seven Infandu were upon her, stabbing and biting at her until the airlock broke and water spilt out.

As Tsukune and Talia were nearing one of the tunnel entrances, massive mile-tall steel doors slowly began to close in order to seal the manor property off. An automated voice spoke from loudspeakers Tsukune couldn't see. "_Warning: a breach has been detected. Shutting automated doors. Please evacuate the area or head to an air-tight safe room immediately_."

Tsukune looked back as he ran, but all he could see now were Infandu hosts and water rushing out to cover everything. He and Talia made it through the large doors just before they closed. Water smacked the door with a loud impact and Infandu could still be heard screaming. There were few other people around, watching and wondering what had just happened. The largest manor in the city was quickly flooded over, along with everything that was in it. For a while, no one spoke.

"Ironic isn't it?" Talia said, "Akuha once did the same to kill a thousand people, but this time Kahlua saves twenty-five-million."

"Just like that." Tsukune just stared at the towering steel doors. "How am I gonna tell Akuha?"

Talia poked her finger on her mother's necklace. She couldn't care less that the manor she grew up in was now lost to the seas. Anything she ever loved in that house died long ago. She had no home, nor did she want one. "I killed Kahlua."

"What?"

"I killed her with her loyalty. She could not leave Fairy Tale and live with herself, not like her sister. Akuha had already made this choice seven years ago."

Tsukune turned to her and sighed. "I guess you're not so bad. From this moment, I trust you… umm… a little more I mean."

Talia smiled. "A little is fine."

XXX

**Earlier…**

Talia stood in the hidden laboratory where Moka was being held, staring down the hidden passageway Hrothmund had just chased Tsukune into. "Gentlemen…" She turned around to the three Fairy Tale guards with her. "Get ready to move Ms. Akashiya."

"Is that really necessary? No one can beat Hrothmund when he's got that armor on."

"Even so, the Black Devil always has a trick up her sleeve, mais non? Fairy Tale would do well to always keep Moka just out of reach from her would-be rescuers."

XXX

To be continued in next chapter.

* * *

**The first poll I did asked which OC people liked the most. It wasn't much of a poll as there were really only two options, and I put it up mainly just to try out the feature. At the release of this chapter however, I have opened a different, more genuine poll.**

"**What arc did you find the most enjoyable (or least horrid)?"**

**Tsukune's hometown arc. (Assassin chapters 1 - 18)**

**Yōkai Academy arc. (Assassin chapters 18 - 31)**

**Clíodhna arc. (Black Tears chapters 1 – 11)**

**Sure 'Black Tears' is better written and tells a more coherent narrative, but it's much darker and more OC filled. Assassin was more lighthearted, it stayed within the bounds of the canon story, and while hammy at times it had something of a charm to it. I'd honestly like to know which readers prefer.**

**I would open this poll at a more appropriate time, such as the end of the Clíodhna arc, but being the unreasonable slacker that I am I decided to just open it now. I would also open a poll asking whether or not I should bring Yol back, given the backlash for killing her so fast and abruptly, but I already know how that would turn out.**


	11. Chpt 11: Broken

**Clíodhna**

Raika and his five subordinates had boarded a civilian transport submarine in hopes of escaping Viktoriya's house-guards. They were bleeding all over the seats, and it was obvious to the sub's conductor that someone was after them, but he let them aboard when they paid him twenty-times the normal fee. Raika was still blind and armless, and all but one of his men had _at least_ a bullet wound.

The sub docked and attached itself to an airlock on the other side of the city. The operatives got up and made their way to one of the doors. It slid open and a big armored hand suddenly came out to grab their only healthy soldier. Rodriguez stepped into the sub and the four wounded soldiers opened fire. Bullets ricocheted off him and bounced all over the sub interior, some returning to their senders. Rodriguez tore the soldiers to pieces with his fists and grabbed Raika by the scalp.

Rodriguez made a low chuckle in delight. "I've been lookin' forward to this…" he said in a deep, sadistic tone, "It sucks you cant see this coming, cause this'll be straight to the face either way, and that's more than what you allowed for my commanding officer." His tone turned much nastier. "Codename: Gungnir. Real name: Lockett, William. Rank: Chief Warrant Officer-5. Service number: 1-5-6-8-7-0-9-5-5. He was an outstanding marine, he was my friend, and you stabbed him in the back. He deserved a helluva lot better than that." He grabbed a fruit bowl off a nearby table, dumped the fruits aside, and set it on the floor.

Raika couldn't see, but he could hear water being poured into the bowl. "You're gonna try to drown me? Hah! Water conducts electri-" His face was shoved into the water and held there. The water bubbled and splashed as he tried to shout.

Rodriguez squatted down with one hand on his victim's head. "For a being of electricity, you don't know much about how it works. _A solution_ conducts electricity. _Water_ is a goddamned insulator!"

Raika's legs kicked all around in panic. His head shook and turned wildly as he let out muffled screams.

"I'd been saving this purified water for a vampire, but you're definitely worth it!" Rodriguez roared at Raika, "You think getting stabbed in the back is a dumb way to go? How's drowning in a fruit bowl?! _Huh_?!"

Raika slowly stopped struggling, and finally went still. Rodriguez then picked up his body, snapped the neck, and quickly tossed him out the airlock into the ocean outside the city. Raika's body was crushed by the water pressure like a paperclip, and soon there was nothing left of him.

"Good riddance…" Rodriguez crossed his arms as he stared at the ocean floor. "I'm coming for you next, Akuha Shuzen."

XXX

**Trofimov Manor – Entrance Hall**

"Kokoa?" Akuha said, "What are you doing here?" She pointed at Fan Fan. "And why did you bring _him_ with you?!"

Kokoa, Fan Fan, and Ling Ling stood together on the red carpet. "_They_ brought _me_ along," Kokoa explained, "and they were eager to when I told them my last name."

Akuha facepalmed. "Look, I know Moka's your sister too, but-"

"But what?" Kokoa interrupted, "Do you want me to sit back and-" She put her fingers up and made 'air quotes'. "'_Let the adults handle it_' again? I've grown up, Nee-sama, and I'm tired of being kept out of the loop. Since you came back into everyone's lives all this crazy stuff has been happening and no one bothers to tell me anything!" Her fiery expression faded. "By the way, what are you wearing?"

Akuha looked down at her crimson evening dress. It matched her eyes, had spaghetti straps, showed a lot of her back, and went down to the floor, though there were slits on the side that showed a lot of leg too. It was the first dress she ever wore that was not Chinese. "A dress like this is… different for me but-"

"It's not black!"

Fan Fan spoke up. "The name 'Red Devil' sounds cool if you don't mind me saying."

Akuha made an uninterested gaze. "How did you find me?"

"Umm…" Fan Fan pulled out a magical charm. "We tracked your energy signature!" he said with enthusiasm, "To this city anyways. There's _so_ much people here, that their energy completely hid even yours. We've been searching for you by conventional means all yesterday and today."

"You've been here all this time?"

"We were on the tram behind yours, but you were long gone by the time we got off." Fan Fan glanced at Kokoa for a moment. "Me and Kokoa have never been in Clíodhna before, it's dazzling by the way, but at least Ling Ling has been here numerous times and knows her way around. We hit a few dead-ends while looking for you though." He pondered to himself. "There was this one guy at the festival in Arassi that looked like your husband. He was strong like him, as shown when he broke the High Striker, but he was with a girl sporting hair that dropped down to the waist. They had to be some other couple."

"Uhm…"

"But when we finally figured out where you were, we bumped into a guy that said he knew you. He seemed to take an interest in Kokoa." Fan Fan leaned forward to whisper. "Seemed a lolicon pervert if you ask me."

Akuha looked baffled. "Did you catch a name?"

"I've never seen him before," Kokoa said, "but I think his name was uhh… rake… wreck…"

"Raika." Fan Fan said, "He was in town with another of your sisters, Kahlua, and he's working for the same people you do. I figured he was legit, so I let him know where to find you."

"_You_ told him I was here?!" Akuha practically screamed.

"Yeah… that's a good thing, right?"

Akuha grinded her teeth at him like an angry attack dog.

"I told you we shouldn't have trusted him." Ling Ling whispered to her brother.

"Look," Akuha said in a polite manner, "you're persistent, I can respect that, and the ability to command a phoenix is impressive, but I'm in the middle of something very important and very dangerous. Can you relentlessly nag me about joining your family when I'm done?"

"Fine with us." Ling Ling said before Fan Fan could speak. "But I trust you'll still consider our offer. Having left Fairy Tale, joining a different organization would be in your best interest, particularly one that opposes Fairy Tale, as you're already at odds with them anyways. You'd be better off with allies, and don't forget that our leader is one of the three Dark Lords, Touhou Fuhai." She floated closer and looked Akuha in the eye. "I know you can use the Jigen-Tou. Wouldn't you like to meet the technique's inventor?"

Akuha cocked an eyebrow in interest. "I'll think about it."

XXX

Fan Fan and Kokoa were given a brief tour by one of the guards. Apparently Ling Ling had already been here with her father a few times. Touhou Fuhai and Rukt seemed to have been acquainted since before 'Dark Lord' became a title. Akuha and Kokoa then causally sparred in the training room both to pass the time and to keep Akuha's skill sharp while she recovered. By now she had recovered at least enough to hold her own without ruining her dress in at all.

An hour later Akuha was sitting alone, resting in one of the guard lounges. Dozens of well-furnished chairs were scattered everywhere and a widescreen television set on the wall was switched to the news channel. Images and videos of Hrothmund's flooded district were being shown as the reporters commented on any rumors or theories they had heard.

"-and at this time there are no known survivors. Safe rooms across the district have been found empty so far and it is unclear if anyone got out before the doors closed, though witnesses claim to have spotted two individuals, one male one female, whom are currently nowhere to be seen."

A different voice came. "That's a real shame. Maybe one of them could've shed light on what caused this terrible incident. For now, it's up only for speculation."

Akuha didn't need to speculate. She knew who to ask once he got back. Right on que, Tsukune walked into the lounge, shirtless, and he looked notably more muscular than he did this morning. Akuha stood up and gave a wide-eyed stare, blushing. "Tsukune?"

Tsukune eyed the red dress Akuha was wearing and blushed too. She looked good in it, but more importantly she still looked like herself and not a knock-off of Moka. "Akuha?"

Akuha looked away and scratched her head bashfully. "So uh… I hope you've got some good news."

Tsukune shrugged. "Some good, _a lot_ bad." He looked at the now muted television. It displayed footage of crowds massing around a dripping-wet carcass of an Infandu host as it was being hauled by a crane. "You've already seen some of it." An old dog came up beside him and panted loudly. "Oh, and… she wanted me to bring this dog with me for some-"

"Earl Grey!" Akuha practically screamed. The dog stumbled toward her as fast as his old legs would carry him.

"Oh… right." Tsukune nodded in remembrance. "He's _your_ dog isn't he?"

Akuha knelt down and petted Earl. "By the way, when you said 'she', who were you referring to?"

"Err…" He didn't want to say it. "She's been taking care of Earl since you left him on the blimp. Talia."

Akuha shot him a serious look. "Start talking."

XXX

Tsukune explained everything that happened at Hrothmund's manor. Akuha just sat quietly and listened patiently, seemingly without any sort of reaction, save for a deep breath when she was told of Kahlua's fate. When Tsukune was done, Akuha just stood up with a despairing look on her face. Tsukune half-expected her to leave for some quiet time to think.

"I guess now it's my turn." Akuha said.

"For what?"

"I promised that I'd tell you everything." Akuha looked back at the open door in case anyone was eavesdropping. "Walk with me. This would be the worst place to talk about it."

Before leaving the manor, Akuha put on a hooded black cloak over her dress that covered everything but the chin. Tsukune already had enough of running across the city shirtless, and got dressed in the same suit he wore to the party yesterday. Looking back, it seemed pretty amazing that they'd been in Clíodhna for only two days in spite of all that's happened. The two of them walked along one of the less crowded areas of the city and arrived at a large empty courtyard not far from the manor. There were no signs other people here.

"Hmp." Akuha took her hood off. "They never repaired it."

"Repaired what?"

"There used to be a sandpit here with a playground on it, but it was blown to smithereens."

Tsukune stared at the stone courtyard. "You fought a battle here."

Akuha nodded. "Four years ago, there was a pro-human movement going on in the city. It garnered a huge following, and even a few district lords backed it. As you might imagine that didn't sit well with Fairy Tale, so they sent me in to deal with the movement's key supporters."

"But why you?"

Akuha shrugged. "At the time I didn't think about it. Maybe my name was drawn out of a hat. Maybe a solo operative would be more effective and I work well alone. But now, I think it's because Gyokuro _doesn't_ trust me."

"Because you actually care about your sisters?"

Akuha thought of what happened seven years ago. It was a different story that she'd rather talk about some other time. "I guess you could say that. I still remember Gyokuro confronting me about it, and my _stupid_, _foolish_ pride demanded that I prove her wrong! I wanted to prove to her, to my associates, but most of all to _myself_ that I wasn't soft!" She calmed down and made a heavy sigh. "I killed every one of my targets, though some were harder than others. There was one I could never find, so I flooded the entire district I knew he was somewhere in. Talia's father was the most difficult of the targets. His manor was the biggest and most heavily defended, you know it, you've seen it, but I had help getting inside by someone who knew the place inside and out, Talia's only friend."

"Frederick Hrothmund." Tsukune shook his head sadly. He didn't understand how anyone could act so selfishly, but recently he had been seeing a lot of terrible acts he neither could nor would want to understand.

"I was getting ready to leave when he suggested to add two more targets to the hit-list, Vicky's parents. They weren't supporters of the pro-human movement, but killing them would allow him more control over the city. He offered extra pay and it would benefit Fairy Tale, so I went through with it. It's easy to kill people you don't know." She turned her head at the Trofimov manor in the distance. "Quickly in and quickly out, but Rukt pursued me. I couldn't lose him, so we fought." She looked back at the courtyard and held her hand toward it. "Right here."

Tsukune already knew what the outcome was. "Did you at least put up a good fight?"

"I was so full of myself then. I only lasted fifteen minutes because he was toying with me." Akuha thought of Akasha and the battle that could have been. If Rukt was so powerful, then how would engaging an equal or greater opponent like Akasha have turned out? Choosing not to attack might have saved her life that day. Still, Rukt could block the Jigen-Tou while Akasha probably couldn't… probably. She may never know. "It was that experience that showed me how much of a fool I'd been. I was in over my head thinking I could take someone like that on, and I was there in the first place because I let my pride tell me what to do."

"If that's how you met, how the devil did you become friends later?"

"After he beat me, I was so injured that I couldn't even stand for several days. Rukt told the people of Clíodhna that he ran me out of town, but in reality he was nursing me back to health in the Trofimov manor."

"What?! After what you'd done?"

"At the time I didn't think much about it. Maybe he was naïve and wanted to 'reform' me. Maybe me dying wasn't a good enough atonement for what I'd done."

"But now?"

"Now… now I've learned that we weren't so different. Four-hundred years ago he wasn't kind like he is now. He was a conqueror that loved battle simply for the thrill of it. I guess being mindful of his own past was what led him to give me a chance." Akuha scratched her head, thinking to herself. "Well… that and he considered Gyokuro and Hrothmund to be more responsible for the killings. Anyways, two months passed and we talked a lot. I even spent time with the daughter of my last two targets."

"Vicky didn't know what you did."

"Yes."

"You said you saved her life though."

"Hrothmund hired some mercenaries to kidnap her. He then planned to kill his own guys to make himself look like a hero, but they turned out to be more than he bargained for. After that failed back-stab the mercenaries decided they'd just kill Vicky and leave Clíodhna, but ironically I was the one that came to save her, on-board an underwater tram where I met Ar'rie."

"Why couldn't Rukt do anything?"

"He never loses in a head-on fight but these guys were slippy. Catching em' took stealth and surprise." Akuha smirked. "In gratitude, he taught me the basics of Muay Thai, and I left the city a few weeks later. That's about it."

Tsukune gave a silent nod. It was a heck of a story, though he had already pieced together some of it. Akuha put her hood back on and they began walking back to the manor. "Well, now it's my turn again."

"There's something _else_ you'd like to share?" Akuha asked.

"Yes. Do you remember that dragon Fairy Tale had?"

"Fairy Tale has lots of dragons."

"One in particular, the big red one from the free-way fight this morning."

"That wasn't a dragon, that's a Dovah."

"Eh? What's the difference?"

"Despite the resemblance, they're not even the same species. Dragons hatch from eggs and are as dumb as turkeys. Dovahs are the children of a Cyrodilic god and have ten-times more brain power than any human. They're closer to Daedra than any flying reptiles."

"Umm… well…" Tsukune made an ashamed sigh. "Anyways, I killed her."

"Yeah, I know, and I was pretty impressed by that."

"She was blackmailed to work for Fairy Tale and was trying to help me behind their back!"

Akuha was taken aback by his sudden outburst. "I guess I see why it would bother you, but it's not like you knew her."

"Akuha, there's a lot of terrible people in Fairy Tale, many that the world would be better off without, but the _one_ person I've ever killed is someone that didn't deserve it!"

"Where are you going with this?"

Tsukune paused. He knew Akuha wasn't going to like this. "Talia wants to take me with her to go see Yol's father."

Akuha seemed to shoot him a look, though it was hard to tell with the hood on. "You know she's just using you."

"I don't care if she is. This is something I have to do."

"Don't be a fool, Tsuk-"

"It's probably trivial to a vampire, but when a human kills someone for the first time he learns something about himself, not what he's capable of, not how bad a person he is, but whether or not he's able to live with himself afterwards. It's been less than a day and I can already tell I can't without some kind of penance."

"You can't keep playing 'good guy' like this…"

"I've already made my decision. I'm leaving with her tomorrow morning and we'll go our separate ways as soon as we're done. I'll meet you back at Yōkai Academy."

Akuha's expression darkened under her hood. "You _will_ regret trusting her."

XXX

**Massive Blimp**

Moka lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling with her hands folded beneath her head. She wasn't crying, angry, or afraid… just bored. The door was locked and the airship was probably heading back to the Floating Garden. Since she was taken prisoner, all Fairy Tale had been doing with her was locking her in bedrooms or knocking her out so they could conduct 'experiments' that wouldn't get them anywhere. Briefly seeing Akuha and even talking with Tsukune gave her comfort, and even though they weren't successful in rescuing her, they still thinned out Fairy Tale's ranks by quite a bit. Of the sizable force that was sent to Clíodhna, only a dozen grunts were left. Any officers or high-level yōkai were dead or missing. It was an encouraging thought. Perhaps she could… escape? She had just about enough of being the victim, stuck here to do nothing but cope with her emotions and hope for the best.

Noticing there were no cameras, Moka knelt on her bed, tore at the mattress, and bent off pieces of the exposed springs. Quietly approaching the door, she put two metal fibers into the keyhole and began picking the lock. She had never done this before, but she had time. After nearly an hour of trial and error, and at least twenty pieces of spring, she cautiously opened the door. Two grunts were standing guard, making idle conversation to pass the time. One had the head of a squid, the other had the head of a rat.

"_P_lease, _p_lease, _p_lease!" The squid guard said mockingly. He seemed to spit a lot when pronouncing a 'P' sound. "The actors _p_erformed so _p_oorly that any _p_erson _p_aying attention _p_ractically went _p_ale!"

The rat guard kept his eyes closed. His face was dripping with spit. "Dude, this may sound like an odd request, but do you mind looking _away_ from me when you speak?"

"_Phffft_!" The squid guard spat, "_f_ine!" he spat again. He turned around and faced the other direction. "_P_ussy!"

Moka remained crouched as she snuck out of her room, closed the door, and moved down the hallway opposite of where both guards were facing. She went around the corner and put her back to the wall to take a deep breath. What now? It wasn't like she could just jump off an airship flying miles above the ocean. Maybe if she looked around she could find something useful, like an escape pod. She'd never know if she didn't try.

Half an hour passed and Moka still hadn't found anything, though at least she hadn't been caught yet as no guards roamed the halls. Eventually she found herself in the woman's locker room. There seemed to be someone using the shower but no one else was in the room. On one of the walls was a roster of the remaining soldiers on this ship. Out of twelve, one of them was female. Moving on, Moka spotted piles of female uniforms in different sizes sitting in a corner. She picked up one and inspected it. Come to think of it, they greatly resembled Nazi uniforms with short skirts, though the black leather made them look classy nonetheless. She nearly gasped as she heard the shower stop.

The shower door opened. A woman wrapped in a towel walked out and was immediately whacked on the head with a steel tray. She fell to the ground and lay there dazed.

Moka looked closely at the woman. She was bald, though many aquatic yōkai didn't grow hair when taking a human form, and often wore wigs to compensate. She was much older than Moka, maybe in her thirties. She was a bit chunky, but not by too much. Her eyes were a slightly darker green than Moka's, again not by too much. Moka then looked to the only open locker in the room, which happened to have a wig in it, and it gave her an idea. She checked the locker door and looked at the name, 'Lyra Abdul'.

XXX

**Floating Garden**

The huge blimp docked onto the much larger floating city. The officer awaiting a report looked surprised when only twelve low-ranking soldiers came out of the ship. He seemed non too happy when the rat soldier told him that they had lost every asset they brought and that their prisoner was now missing.

"You… _lost her_?!" the officer raged.

"I swear! We locked her in her room and later it was empty. We searched every inch of the ship more than once!"

The two of them continued to talk about bad news for what felt like ten minutes. Finally, with a roll call in order, a clipboard was brought to the officer and he began calling names. The force deployed to Clíodhna had been around three-hundred soldiers strong, so he only bothered calling the forty names that weren't confirmed to be dead yet. "Divik?"

"I'm here." said the rat soldier.

"Gorrith?"

"_P_resent!" said the squid soldier.

The officer stopped to wipe the spit off his face. "Lyra?"

"Umm… right here."

"Mhmm." The officer went on to the next name without looking at her. When roll call finally ended they were dismissed and everyone went their own way.

Moka released a big, exhausted sigh of relief as she walked. Her heart had been racing. Two hours before the blimp docked, she had put on a Fairy Tale uniform her size, slipped her rosary under her shirt, thrown her old white dress out the window so no one could find it, and locked the soldier she was impersonating in the laundry room. Moka had then tied her hair up as tight as she could so no one would see any pink, and put on the admittedly realistic looking wig. The hair was brunette, slightly curled near the ends, and it dropped a little below the shoulders. She wasn't carrying a rifle like the other soldiers, but she had a revolver holstered on her upper leg.

"Well, what were the chances, Lyra?" The rat guard named Divik threw an arm over her shoulder and walked beside her. "I mean, I know we're not friends, but we came back when two-hundred n' eighty-eight didn't. Just saying we're lucky."

Moka had 'freaked out' expression frozen on her face. Her eyes were nearly bulging.

Divik took a closer look at her. "_And_ I just realized that you're hot. Your skin looks especially smooth today… and you're way slimmer than I remember. How'd you manage that?"

"Uh… bea… beauty products."

"Haha," Divik laughed innocently, "that's a good one. Everyone knows they don't work like the commercials say." He patted her shoulder. "Whaddya say we head to the bar so I can buy you a drink?"

Moka was too nervous to say anything.

"Excellent! I wonder why I never bothered to talk to you before."

Moka tried to squeeze away from him. They passed nearby Miyabi Fujisak and a few of his men whom didn't even look at them. On second thought, maybe being around a genuine soldier would make her seem less suspicious. The Fairy Tale leaders didn't seem to pay much attention to a _group_ of peons.

XXX

Gyokuro sat in the command room and stared at the monitors, disappointed with her men. It seemed like anyone loyal to Fairy Tale, division leaders and grunts alike, were incompetent, while anyone that was capable would betray the cause. She knew Akuha was resourceful, but hadn't expected her to work so efficiently in a city that had it in for her. How did she know of their operation in Clíodhna in the first place? One obvious answer was an inside source, with the Dovah as the primary suspect. "If you want something done right…"

A floating platform came down with Frederick on it. "I'll bet you're thinking of putting all the blame on me, simply cause I'm the only one that's alive and can be yelled at. I feel like I should mention that I provided your men with _everything_ they needed despite their string of defeats. Only _they_ could've lost Ms. Akashiya after their blimp had taken to the air."

"Lost her?" Gyokuro laughed. Her ability to sense energy was infamous for being among the sharpest in the world. With a little concentration she could sense the life force of a fly thousands of miles away. Right now, she could feel Moka's presence somewhere on the Floating Garden, though her being sealed distorted the signature and made it difficult to pin down. "I assure you, she's still within our grasp, but blame or prisoners is not what I summoned you for." She tapped a button and the largest monitor changed what it displayed. "Fairy Tale's next move, which would leave our enemy's recent success meaningless. I will lead it myself, and I want you to take part in it."

"I'm not a member of Fairy Tale."

"After the events in Clíodhna, do you have anything better to do? Anyone else to go to? Anything to lose?"

"Not really." But he thought last time he threw in with Fairy Tale, and it cost him something irreplaceable… something he took for granted. He didn't want to aid these Social Darwinists anymore than he already had, or he'd find out what else he had to lose. "I'm in." He made one last look at the monitor showing a picture of the Shuzen Manor.

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…


	12. Chpt 12: Nid Fahdonne

**Originally, I was planning to show the entirety of Akuha's first visit to Clíodhna in one big flashback chapter, but I was too lazy to do it. ****Viktoriya and Rukt are less important characters because of this, but what's done is done.**

* * *

**Norway**

Tsukune walked beside a country road deep in the woodlands and far away from any small town. He dragged a sizable steel net over his shoulder filled with all of Yolnahbrii's bones, as he was told to bring them. With vampire strength it wasn't hard to pull, but it felt creepy heaving around a skeleton. To his left and right were endless forests with pine trees that had more snow on them the further he went. In front and behind him were straight empty roads that went on as far as he could see. Far in the distance was a tall, fairly steep mountain, and it got progressively much colder and snowier the closer he got to it. The sun rose and shined brightly beside the mountain, and Tsukune felt himself smile. It was quiet, graceful, and peaceful here, even if he was slowly going numb in his long sleeve shirt and jeans. He was beginning to consider turning around, getting teleported back to Clíodhna, and putting on something a little warmer.

"Neglected to plan for the weather?" came Talia's voice.

At first Tsukune couldn't see her. He looked up to see her sitting on a tree branch straight above him. "Ehh… I was thinking more about what I'd say to papa-dovah."

Talia slipped off the branch with her wings open and floated to the ground gently. She seemed to be 'wearing' a winter coat, pants, and the usual boots, all black. "You seldom consider these scanty details." She reached into her tiny purse and pulled out a much larger winter coat Tsukune's size. "I suspected you might need this."

Tsukune took the coat and quickly put it on. "Thanks I guess."

They continued toward the mountain as snow began to sprinkle. The sun still shined but everything ahead except for the road was covered in a blanket of white. Mizore would be right at home here. For a while neither of them spoke and the mountain never seemed to get any closer.

"Have you met her father before?" Tsukune broke the silence.

"Not at all, but he is well-known."

"Is he famous or something? Like Rukt?"

"He is among the last of the first-generation dov, and is considered the most powerful of those which remain. Be that as it may, he is not their leader."

Tsukune could imagine that Yol had a lot to live up to. "I hope he isn't ill tempered…"

"Normally any dovah would be, but they're well-practiced in self-control. It is part of their pacifist creed 'Way of The Voice' that they've followed for the past millennia."

"Yeah… I remember Yol mentioning that thing."

"Yol?" Talia raised an eyebrow to the simple nickname. "You do not even know what her name means, do you?"

"If it's anything to go on, I heard parts of her name in shouts she used."

Talia took a deep breath and kept her eyes forward. "'Yol' is their word for fire, her most proficient element. 'Nah' is their word for fury, for she was a natural for battle. Brii is their word for beauty, as she was fairly attractive by dovah-standards. She protested that it would sound conceited, but it stuck."

Tsukune made a weak smile. "Hmph. It's a real shame she's dead."

"Dovah are immortal, Tsukune. Each possesses a soul of a god's."

"Are you saying she isn't truly gone?" Tsukune looked confused, but hopeful.

Talia nodded. "Long ago, Akatosh shred a large portion of his soul which split into countless fragments. These fragments became the dovahhe and each gained their own identity, though they weren't all born at once. A god's soul cannot be extinguished, thus the only way to 'kill' a dovah is for another to absorb its soul, which in actuality is simply recombining two fragments together with the victor as the dominant personality."

"Wait, but if their souls can't be created or destroyed, how is it that they can have children?"

"They could not for some time. When one dovah absorbed another, their numbers would permanently decrease, and ultimately those numbers began to dwindle. With the world as it is now, some dovah decided it would be better to increase their population, and so with the power of their voices, or Thu'um as they call it, they changed themselves. Some developed feminine characteristics and they were no longer a genderless race. Two dovah can now split off portions of their own souls and combine them to make offspring, not unlike how Akatosh gave birth to them, save for the soul mixing and smaller scale."

Tsukune looked back at the bones he was dragging. "I think I get it now."

Almost two hours passed before they reached the base of the mountain. The clouds now completely covered the sky, as well as the sun which had been shinning brightly earlier. It was still morning, but it was getting dark and the sprinkling snow was already becoming a blizzard.

Talia stopped and looked up the mountain. "This is as far as I will take you. I cannot fly in this weather, nor can I survive at the summit."

"What? You want me to face this guy _alone_? And with his daughter's skeleton?! What was the point of you coming with me anyways?"

Talia wrapped both hands around his free arm. "I simply enjoy long walks along the countryside."

Tsukune made an annoyed face. "Why is it that you do everything in such a flirty manner?"

Talia made a frisky wink. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Seriously, stop teasing me."

Talia let go. "If you must know, the cold will not affect you so severely and you can move much faster on your own. I can only show you the way…" She reached into her purse and brought out the glass orb holding the dovah soul. "…and give you this."

Tsukune looked at gold wind-like light swimming inside. "That's Yol's soul in there, isn't it?"

"There are three souls, with the most powerful as the dominant personality. Whichever one that may be, only a dovah would know." Talia put the orb back in the purse and gave the whole thing to Tsukune. She turned and began to walk back the way they came. "If you believe that I'm just setting you up, or that it is too much trouble, know that you can turn back at any time." She disappeared into the blizzard.

Tsukune looked from the huge pile of bones he was hauling, and then to the tall mountain he was supposed to climb. He let out a long, _long_ sigh.

XXX

**Clíodhna**

Kokoa pushed and shoved through the crowded tunnel, running as fast as she could. She took off the moment she'd heard: '_Kahlua was in Hrothmund's district when it flooded_'. Akuha leapt across the rooftops in a concealing cloak to follow at a distance. She didn't want to leave the mansion, but she didn't want Kokoa to go out on her own either, and she didn't trust anyone else to go with her. Straight ahead were the masses of people gathered a short distance from the closed steel doors of the flooded district. Between them and the doors was a field of workers and engineers, tents filled with supplies and equipment, and machines like trucks and cranes. They seemed to be in the middle of draining the water out.

"Outta' the way!" Kokoa bowled through the crowd but was stopped by the line of unarmed security guards keeping the people back.

"Miss, you're gonna' have to stay back."

"My sister's in there!" Kokoa slipped between the guards and they just let her go. She began looking for wherever any survivors would be kept.

Akuha stood up straight with her arms half-spread out, balancing on a sideways flagpole past the security line. From there she spotted Kokoa heading to a mass of trucks with red crosses on them. Near them, a crane was setting down another sealed safe room extracted from the flooded areas. Akuha jumped down and made her way toward the trucks. People watched her but stayed out of her way. She leapt over the trucks and landed.

And there she was… Kahlua lay on a white bed with blood stains all over it. She was partially sliced in half from the right shoulder to the stomach and there were at least five enormous bites taken out of her. The left side of her once gorgeous hair was messy while she was bald on her right side. Her left eye was bruised and swollen shut. "Umm… hi." She grinned with a tooth missing.

Akuha almost didn't recognize her. "You're alive…" Akuha's face remained mostly hidden, save for a lively smile.

"The doctors say I'll never walk again." Kahlua's voice sounded very hoarse.

Kokoa was kneeling beside the bed. She feared Kahlua's prowess and ruthlessness in battle, but they shared many fond memories. "It's better than nothing." She cracked a smile as well.

Kahlua didn't seem so cheerful anymore. "Akuha, I need you to finish me off."

Akuha made a startled look under her hood. "Excuse me?!"

"I was supposed to die in there, but I just couldn't go through with it. After I got washed away, I found a safe room and locked myself in. I was just too scared to die. I want you to do it _for_ me! Please!"

"Kahlua…"

"I mean it! If mom were to find me alive, she'd-"

"Shut up!" Akuha came forward and gently hugged her. "She doesn't need to know you're alive."

On another rooftop, Rodriguez lay on his belly watching them through the scope of his sniper rifle. He knew all three of them were vampires, though the youngest one qualified as 'civilian' and was not part of Fairy Tale. This was the third time he'd had Kahlua in his sights. His hands were jittery and could not keep a steady aim. Seeing Kahlua so vulnerable and at the center of the scope's reticule was too hard to resist. Someone's hand suddenly touched his shoulder.

"Rodriguez…" said William Lockett, or Gungnir, "That girl is too injured to threaten you or anyone else ever again. You aren't going to shoot her with all these people around, are you?"

Rodriguez turn his head to look at his superior officer, but he wasn't there. "For better or worse, you're not around to give me moral advice anymore." He aimed at Kahlua again and started to squeeze the trigger.

"What the hell? What are those things?!" someone shouted.

The Shuzen sisters looked to the extracted safe room nearby and saw an avalanche of Infandu worms spill out of the open door. About a dozen men rushed forward with flamethrowers and began to burn them away. One however slipped past and leapt straight at Kokoa. It was only an inch away from her when a huge bullet suddenly blew it to pieces. The same bullet then barley missed Kahlua's head and shredded her pillow.

"_Gah_!" Green sludge had splattered all over Kokoa's face. She spat and spat trying to get the bad taste out of her mouth.

Akuha looked from her youngest sister to the shredded pillow. Was that shot meant to save Kokoa or to kill Kahlua? "Kokoa, we're leaving." Akuha picked up the mattress Kahlua was on and quickly fled.

XXX

**Mountain Summit**

By now Tsukune was _crawling_ in the snow. He felt like his arms were going to fall off from pulling this sack of bones around, but at least the mountain top was flat and even. The blizzard was especially worse up here. The wind roared in his face and the snow was so thick he could barely see more than a few feet ahead. "Hello? Anyone home?" There was nothing but the snow, the dark gray sky, and a some kind of curved wall ahead of him. From a bird's-eye view the wall would be in the shape of a 'C'. A stone carving of a Dovah head rested on top of it. Runes were etched along the inner side of the wall that faced him, and some of them seemed to shine through the blizzard like they were on fire. "That's worth a look." He started to move forward to investigate, until something huge landed in his way with a loud crash.

Even in this blizzard, the angry looking Dovah with Yolnahbrii's red and purple color scheme was clearly visible. He seemed much bigger and more masculine than Yol, and was none too happy to see him or the bones he was dragging. He growled louder than the wind howled. "What is this mockery you bring to my strunmah?" His voice was deep and it echoed across the sky.

Not taking his eyes of the Dovah, Tsukune slowly reached into the purse Talia gave him, placed the Dovah orb onto the snow, and cautiously backed away.

The Dovah inspected the orb. He opened his mouth and a gold mist came out to touch it, as if reading it. He then retracted the mist back into his mouth. The soul remained in the orb. "I see…" He looked to Tsukune. "Zu'u Odahviing, bormah… father, wah Yolnahbrii ahrk Shulnahviing. It has been some time since I have had a mortal visitor."

Tsukune gulped. "Yeah… I'm Tsukune Aono and…" He bowed for forgiveness. "I'm truly sorry about your girls… Mr. Odahviing, sir. I want you to know that I never meant any harm. I hope you're not mad."

"Drem. Nid paar fah nahkriin. You defeated my flesh and blood in honorable combat. It is the destiny of all Dovah to fall in battle someday. Fairy Tale however blackmailed and humiliated my daughters. I would sooner see those 'tahrodiis vithhe' suffer… instead of you."

Tsukune made a sigh of relief. "So…" He gestured to the orb. "You know who's the dominant soul in there?"

Odahviing just looked to the orb again. "_Slen Tiid Vo_!" His shout sounded much more powerful than any of Yol's. The orb shattered beneath him, and the soul moved to the bones, shrouding them. The steel net was shredded to pieces as the bones rearranged themselves to their original formation. Flesh began to appear like paper burning in reverse, and soon it became another Dovah. "The favorite of my fron."

Yolnahbrii sprung up with her wings wide open. Both her horns and back spikes were longer and sharper. "Bormah!" she cried happily. Odahviing responded by releasing a jet of fire at her. Yolnahbrii did the same and they mutually blew fire all over each other. When they were done, Yolnahbrii then turned to Tsukune. "Jul, I am grateful… but confused. You did not know me."

"I wished that I had."

Yolnahbrii seemed to smile, but suddenly blew a stream of fire at him.

"Whoa!" Tsukune side-rolled out of the way. "What was that for?!"

"Krosis! A force of habit!" Yol hid her face under her wings in embarrassment. "Feeling each other's Thu'umme this way is how dov embrace one another."

Tsukune put a hand on his head and grinned. "It's the thought that counts."

Yol shrunk down and assumed her human form. Her hair was longer, dropping to her knees now, and she retained the chain braid she had before. Her cheeks were a blushing red. "I shall thank thee as 'mortal'!" She hugged Tsukune tightly.

Tsukune wanted to hug her back, but… the girl was completely naked. "Umm…" He kept his eyes closed as he reached into Talia's purse and pulled out a dress.

Yol gasped in excitement. "My dress!"

Tsukune waited a minute, then opened his eyes to see the young dovah wearing the dress and halfway through slipping her boots on. "Add a rose and you'd look just as you did at the party, Yol."

"Please, call me Yuna for now. It doesn't give away that I'm dov."

"Yolnah… Yuna…" Tsukune nodded. "That's much easier to remember."

Yuna's smile faded and, quite oddly, stared at him with a somewhat shocked look. "I… don't even know your name…"

"Mine? It's Tsukune."

Yuna nodded as she tried to take in the name. "Tsu… kune… Tsukune."

Odahviing watched quietly and patiently. Dov made their own decisions and fought their own battles. Whatever Yolnahbrii did now was up to her. "Krif voth ahkrin." He flapped his wings and disappeared into the skies.

Yuna waved goodbye to her father and looked back at Tsukune. "I shall repay you in kind, thuri. Zu'u pruzah fah krif. You wished to enlist my help against Fairy Tale?"

Tsukune shrugged. "Actually, I just felt bad about killing you and I wanted to make up for it. You don't have to come with me."

Yuna looked disappointed. "But I want to come with you, and teach Fairy Tale a lesson."

"Do you want revenge for what they did to your sister?"

Yuna folded her hands behind her back and sighed. "Briinah ahrk zu… mu kos gein. Our two souls are now one. It's not what I wanted, but nothing more can be done about it. I simply want to help someone I like, and stop really bad people."

Tsukune looked at the girl. Yuna seemed harmless in this form, but Tsukune had seen what she could do, and being short of allies that could fight on this level, it was hard to turn her down.

"Pleeeeeeease." Yuna posed like she were riding a motorcycle. "I'll let you ride me anytime you want!" she said excitedly.

Tsukune made a startled look and his nose bled. He was starting to feel lightheaded from how often this kept happening. "Say what?"

"Mmm…" Yuna tapped her index fingers together bashfully. "In my Dovah form I mean, as in… fly you around… yeah."

Tsukune snickered. "Look, I know you can handle yourself, so you can come with me or leave anytime you want."

"Morokei! Ask anything of me, _anything_ at all and I'll do it!"

Tsukune rubbed his hands together. "First of all, let's get out of this cold weather."

"What?" Yuna opened her arms out. "You mean _this_ cold weather?" She could see her breath, but she was completely unaffected by the blizzard. "Alright, I'll clear it out right away."

"Clear it out?"

Yuna took a huge breath. "_Lok Vah Koor_!" she shouted straight up. The shout echoed like thunder as the blizzard quickly calmed and dissipated. There were still clouds in the sky and some snow still fell, but the sun was visible like before. "Faal krein viintaae. It is a beautiful day!"

Tsukune stared at the sun in awe. "A weather control shout? You can do that?"

"Nature itself yields before the Thu'um. Daddy has a shout that can call meteor showers, but I've never been able to use it myself."

Tsukune looked impressed. "Well… anyways…" He turned and started walking the way he came. "Let's get going." He felt much warmer with the sun over him.

"Yes thuri!" Yuna followed.

Tsukune took notice of how happy Yuna was to accompany him. Between Akuha, Talia, and Yuna, this new group of girls was like a dark counterpart to the friends he had made during his first year at Yōkai Academy. He much preferred Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, and Yukari as things were simpler and more lighthearted with them, unlike the life-or-death situations of now. Whatever the case, he now had three more girls to worry about: one that killed thousands of people, one that was potentially evil, and one that he accidentally killed and then brought back to life. Yippee…

XXX

**Clíodhna**

Akuha, her sisters, and the Wong siblings sat in the waiting lobby of a teleport service building. Teleporting was slower and more expensive than the tram service, but it was more convenient and Vicky had given them the required money anyways.

"We're going back to Yōkai Academy already?" Fan Fan said from the bench he sat on. His sister sat beside him. "We just found you."

Akuha sat across him between both her sisters. "I didn't ask you to follow me." She kept her head low, deep in thought.

"We're going to Moka's school?" Kahlua spoke up. She still looked hideously wounded, but she could at least walk on her own. "Oh goodie. I always wanted to see what that place was like."

"That's not where we're headed."

"It's not?"

Ling Ling looked hopeful. "Are you thinking of a 'certain someplace' in China?"

Akuha rolled her eyes. "I don't have any leads on what Fairy Tale's next move is, so I was thinking of just gathering information."

Kahlua looked curious. "What kind of information?"

Akuha looked at her. "Kahlua, did you know what they wanted Moka for?"

"Not really. I never asked."

"You didn't at least think about it? It was pretty obvious they took her for her Shinso blood."

"Well then you already know more than I do."

Akuha sighed and stared at the floor again. "I know that the abilities of a Shinso vampire by far surpasses that of any normal vampire. I know that Shinso powers are not inherited at birth, but by absorbing enough blood from one that is already a Shinso. I know that Gyokuro isn't planning on using the Shinso blood on herself." She smirked. "However, there's someone out there that knows _a lot_ more about Shinso powers than me, Gyokuro, or anyone."

"Who's that?" Kokoa asked.

Akuha looked from Kokoa to Kahlua and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Sisters, we're going home."

XXX

**Yōkai ****Academy**

Tsukune breathed in his surroundings and smiled. "Aaahhhh… it's good to be back." He had his winter coat thrown over his shoulder as he walked through what used to be the outdoor cafeteria. Most of the buildings were covered in scaffolding, but beside that, everything was returning to normal. "I wonder where my friends are." Around him were students eating lunch, hanging out, and reading open textbooks but there was no one that he knew. Maybe he could check by the newspaper clubroom or the dorms. At least those were still standing.

"Tsukune?!" Kurumu stuck her head out the second-floor window of a mostly restored building. "Hey girls!" she shouted behind her, "Tsukune's back!" A lot of commotion was heard as Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari, and Ruby ran down the stairs and got jammed against each other in the doorway in front of Tsukune. "Move it!"

Mizore struggled to no avail. "You're squishing me."

Yukari made some muffled shouts.

Ruby gave a thumbs up. "Nice tux, Tsukune!"

Tsukune looked slightly taken aback, and then he smiled. "Nice to see you're all okay."

Yuna approached wearing the girl's school uniform. "Look thuri! I thought the dress was a bit much, so I tried this on. I might even fit in looking like this, dontcha' think?"

Kurumu grabbed Tsukune defensively. "Hey! Who are you?!"

Mizore stepped forward with a claw of ice raised. "Stay away from my Tsukune."

Yukari studied the newcomer. "She's curvey, her skin is smooth, and her cup size isn't bad…"

"Oooo another playmate!" Ruby jumped in Yuna's face. "What's your name?!"

Yuna grew more and more nervous as she looked back and forth between the four girls, all of them noisily shouting at her until she suddenly turned and ran off. "_Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh_!" she screamed in terror.

Tsukune and his friends stared silently as Yuna disappeared in the distance.

"What's her problem?" Kurumu asked.

Tsukune grinned. "She's a little sensitive."

"By the way, how did your stay in Clíodhna go?"

"Alright I guess. We didn't save Moka but we scored a lot of blows to Fairy Tale."

"Why isn't Akuha with you?" Ruby asked, "Is she alright?"

"I…" Tsukune looked a little concerned. "…don't know actually. We agreed to meet back here. Maybe something happened."

"Bah! Akuha can take care of herself." Kurumu made an 'oh well' gesture. "Let's grab some lunch in the food court for reunion sake."

"It's only been two days." Yukari said.

The girls started toward the appropriate building, but Tsukune jogged the other direction. "I'll find Yuna and meet you there!" he yelled. Running around in a fancy suit caught many curious eyes, but he didn't care. He quickly found Yuna huddled in a corner.

"Bormah once considered changing the second part of my name, nah, to the Dovah word for 'timid'." Yuna sounded ashamed of herself.

Tsukune knelt down beside her. "C'mon, Yōkai Academy is a great place. You can't spend all your time here sitting in a corner."

Yuna could feel dozens of curious students looking at them from a distance. "I'm scared." She covered her eyes in embarrassment.

"Your true form is a giant fire-breathing demigod." Tsukune laughed, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, Kurumu, Yukari, Mizore, and Ruby are all really nice when you get to know them. You'll like em'." He helped Yuna up and slowly walked her toward the cafeteria.

Yuna grasped Tsukune's arm tightly. "Thuri, what is your relationship with those girls?"

"What kind of question is that? They're my friends."

Yuna looked at him, unconvinced. "Just your friends?"

"Of course." Tsukune smiled and nodded. "They can be your friends too if you give them a chance."

"Friends…" Yuna thought of Talia whom she hadn't seen in a while, and of Kahlua whom stabbed her in the throat. Dovah usually kept to themselves and she was still very young for her kind, so she couldn't think of anyone else she ever called 'friend'. "Alright." She seemed to cheer up. "Here's hoping that they like me."

XXX

To be continued in next chapter…

* * *

**I spent a lot of time debating with myself over what would tell a better story. Keeping Yolnahbrii dead would be more dramatic, but bringing her back would fit the canon franchise's identity much better. Since I would reveal Kahlua had survived anyways, I decided to 'screw it', cross my fingers, and hope that this was the better choice. It's up to the readers to say if it was.**

**By the way, have fun translating the 'Dovah speech'.**


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